I     LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

?       SAN  DIEGO 


WHAT  SHALL  I  THINK  OF  JAPAN? 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW   YORK   •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO    •   DALLAS 
ATLANTA    •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON    •  BOMBAY   •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA.  LTD. 

TORONTO 


WHAT  SHALL  I  THINK 
OF  JAPAN? 


BY 
GEORGE  GLEASON 

NINETEEN  YEARS  YMCA  SECRETARY  IN  JAPAN 


Sfonfnrfe 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1921 

All  rights  reaerwd 


COPYRIGHT,  1921, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1921 


The  people  of  Japan  are  too  often  disliked, 
or  as  they  say  "  misunderstood."  Neither 
they  nor  their  neighbors  fully  comprehend 
the  reason.  Dare  we  Americans  delay  a 
sympathetic  attempt  to  interpret  her  struggles 
and  help  Japan  find  her  place  among  the 
family  of  nations? 

George  Gleason 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.  Why  Another  Book  ? I 

CHAPTER  II.  Japan  Pro  and  Con 6 

CHAPTER  III.  The  Siberian  Expedition 21 

Appendix  A.  Correspondence  between  the  Allied  Powers 

and  Admiral  Kolchak 34 

Appendix  B.  Number  of  Troops  in  Siberia 43 

Appendix  C.  Cost  to  Japan  of  the  Siberian  Expedition  44 

CHAPTER  IV.  Foreign  Diplomacy  to  1914 45 

Appendix.  Text  of  the  Shantung  Treaty  between  China 

and  Germany 62 

CHAPTER  V.  Blunders 71 

Appendix.  The  Twenty-one  Demands 80 

CHAPTER  VI.  Signs  of  the  New  Japan 94 

Appendix  A.  Platforms  of  the  Friendly  Society  (Yuai- 

kai) 113 

Appendix  B.  Professor  Yoshino  on  Japan's  Dual  Gov- 
ernment    114 

CHAPTER  VII.  Japan  in  Manchuria 120 

CHAPTER  VIII.  Japan  in  Korea 137 

CHAPTER  IX.  Japan  and  China 167 

Appendix  A.  Statement  by  Japanese  Public  Men   re- 
garding the  Return  of  Shantung 192 

Appendix  B.  Ultimatum  issued  by  Japan  to  Germany, 

August  15,  1914 194 

Appendix  C.  Non- Japanese    Foreign     Concessions    in 

China 195 

CHAPTER  X.  Japan  and  America 197 

Appendix  A.  Ishii-Lansing  Agreement  of  November  2, 

1917 214 

Appendix  B.  Letter  from  Premier  Kara 216 

CHAPTER  XI.  The  Future  of  Japan 218 

CHAPTER  XII.  Can  Japanese  be  Christians? 246 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 271 

INDEX 273 


WHAT  SHALL  I  THINK  OF  JAPAN? 


WHAT  SHALL   I   THINK  OF 
JAPAN  ? 

CHAPTER  I 
WHY  ANOTHER  BOOK? 

"Why  is  it  that  when  we  want  to  like  Japan  she  makes  it  so 
hard  for  us  to  do  so?" — A  Philadelphia  Quaker 

ONE  of  my  first  experiences  in  Siberia  in  the  fall 
of  1918  was  a  3,500  mile  trip  through  the  Japanese 
Camps  in  a  forty-foot  combination  club  and  canteen 
freight  car  with  my  former  Japanese  associate  in 
Osaka.  Those  jolting  nights  on  my  little  army  cot 
when  I  felt  as  if  only  a  special  intervention  could 
keep  me  from  jellifying,  the  long  working  days, 
one  beginning  at  six  and  ending  at  three  the  next 
morning,  the  eager  hands  stretched  over  the  counter 
at  every  stop  begging  to  buy  from  our  canteen,  the 
quick  change  from  the  crimson  colors  of  fall  to  the 
snows  of  the  northern  winter,  all  remain  as  happy, 
vivid  memories.  We  stopped  at  nearly  every  station 
where  Japanese  troops  were  located.  When  there 
was  telephone  connection  the  Japanese  officers  or 
Russian  railroad  men  informed  the  next  town  of  our 
coming  so  that  whatever  the  time,  be  it  day  or  night, 


2  WHY  ANOTHER   BOOK? 

there  was  always  an  impetuous  greeting  awaiting 
us.  At  one  station  where  we  arrived  in  the  evening 
just  after  dark  we  looked  out  and  saw  the  whole 
horizon  on  fire.  From  the  soldiers  we  learned  that 
their  army  had  just  returned  to  the  railroad  and  by 
these  camp  fires  the  boys  were  trying  to  keep  them- 
selves and  their  horses  from  freezing.  The  ther- 
mometer was  down  below  zero.  Some  of  these 
fellows  who  had  not  washed  for  a  week  looked  more 
like  negroes  than  Japanese.  After  that  the  grimy 
hands  were  those  I  always  liked  to  serve  first.  We 
also  did  a  little  for  the  Russian  railroad  men  and 
their  families,  some  of  whom  had  not  tasted  sweets 
for  weeks.  On  returning  to  Japan  I  collected  several 
thousand  boxes  of  candy  for  the  sugar  hungry  Rus- 
sian children. 

When  we  came  out  of  the  wilds  of  the  Amur  Line 
and  began  to  meet  English-speaking  people  on  the 
Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  I  was  amazed  at  the 
almost  universal  criticism  of  the  Japanese.  With 
one  exception,  I  believe,  every  foreigner  I  met 
had  his  stock  of  anti-Japanese  tales,  some  true, 
some  exaggerated  and  some  without  any  basis  in 
fact. 

One  illustration:  At  Bukedu  in  western  Man- 
churia I  was  told  that  when  an  American  Army 
pay  car  was  on  the  way  from  Vladivostok  to  Ha- 
barovsk  Japanese  railroad  guards  attempted  to 
board  the  car  and  make  an  examination.  The 
American  soldiers  protested  and  when  a  Japanese 
persisted  in  forcing  his  way  in,  the  American  soldier 


ANTI-JAPANESE  TALES  3 

ran  him  through  with  a  bayonet  and  tossed  him  off 
the  car  dead. 

I  happened  to  be  at  Habarovsk  the  very  day  that 
pay  car  arrived  and  knew  the  facts.  Japanese  guards 
at  one  of  the  stations  had  been  over  zealous  in  their 
search  for  Bolsheviki  travelers.  When  they  at- 
tempted to  board  the  American  car  they  were 
peremptorily  ordered  to  keep  away,  which  they  did. 
The  report  of  a  slight  disagreement,  in  1500  miles  of 
travel,  had  grown  to  a  bayonet  thrust  and  a  dead 
man  on  the  tracks. 

But  the  impressive  fact  was,  not  that  some  stories 
had  been  exaggerated  or  were  pure  fabrications,  but 
that  every  foreigner  I  met  was  simply  stuffed  with 
them.  That  one  of  our  associated  Powers,  the 
country  I  had  been  trying  to  serve  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  was  thus  disliked  by  the  other  members  of 
the  Siberian  expedition  seemed  to  me  a  very  serious 
problem,  menacing  both  the  future  of  Japan,  and  all 
other  international  relationships  in  the  Far  East. 

When  I  returned  to  Vladivostok  there  also  I  found 
a  noticeable  change.  People  who  five  weeks  before 
had  spoken  most  kindly  of  Japan  now  had  an  air  of 
suspicion,  were  ready  with  stories  of  haughty  acts  of 
Japanese  officers,  and  reported  misdeeds  of  the 
soldiers  towards  the  Russians.  Later  during  a  trip 
through  Manchuria,  North  China  and  Korea,  I 
found  a  burning  anti-Japanese  spirit.  One  Chinese 
student  in  Peking,  standing  before  a  lady  missionary 
about  to  return  to  Yokohama,  straightened  up  and 
said  with  flashing  eye:  "Will  you  please  tell  your 


4  WHY  ANOTHER  BOOK? 

Nippon  friends  that  there  isn't  a  man,  woman,  or 
child  in  China  who  doesn't  hate  the  Japanese." 
In  America,  too,  after  my  return  I  soon  discovered 
that  the  discussions  about  Shantung,  the  reports  of 
cruelties  in  Korea  and  the  general  suspicion  created 
by  the  Siberian  situation  had  turned  many  against 
Japan. 

What  have  been  the  causes  of  this  change  of  atti- 
tude? I  have  spent  more  than  a  year  trying  to  get 
to  the  bottom  of  this  problem,  and  in  doing  so  have 
been  led  back  into  a  study  of  Japan's  relations  with 
the  outside  world  since  our  American  Commodore 
Perry  sailed  into  Yedo  Bay  in  November,  1853. 
The  results  of  these  months  of  special  investigation 
have  impelled  me  to  attempt  an  interpretation  of  the 
inner  life  of  this  rapidly  evolving  nation. 

Most  recent  books  on  Japan  impress  me  as  par- 
tisan. Either  the  writer  deliberately  paints  over 
the  dark  spots  in  her  modern  policies;  or,  discovering 
in  the  "Twenty-One  Demands"  on  China  evidence 
of  militaristic  ambition,  he  puts  on  his  red  goggles 
and  reads  back  into  all  Japanese  diplomacy  the  law 
of  tooth  and  claw. 

Let  us  try  to  distinguish  frankly  and  impartially 
between  right  and  wrong  in  modern  Japan.  My 
Japanese  friends  who  read  these  pages  will,  I  hope, 
see  why  Japan  has  made  so  many  enemies  and  will  be 
helped  to  know  what  in  her  thinking  and  conduct 
must  be  changed  if  she  wishes  to  be  welcomed  among 
the  nations.  Such  a  welcome  is,  for  Japan,  a  sine 
qua  non  of  her  future  development.  To  the  Anglo- 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  IN  JAPAN  5 

Saxon  race  I  make  a  plea  to  cease  repeating  worn 
out  criticisms,  to  discern  the  conflict  now  raging 
between  reactionary  conservatism  and  progressive 
democracy,  and  with  Christian  sympathy  to  support 
the  pioneers  of  the  new  Japan. 


CHAPTER  II 
JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

"If  one  should  ask — no  matter  whom 
What  type  of  soul  Japan  has  won, 
Tell  him:— 

A  mountain  cherry  tree  in  bloom 
Splendid  before  the  rising  sun." 

— Japanese  Poem 

ONE  of  the  most   interesting  recent  writers  on 
Japan  early  in  his  book  warningly  says: 

"Most  foreigners  in  Japan  are  ranged  in  two 
opposing  camps — labelled  pro-  or  anti-Japanese. 
The  visitor  is  in  danger  of  being  haled  into  one 
or  the  other  of  these  camps  and  thus  runs  the 
risk  of  becoming  hopelessly  biassed  or  one- 
sided." 

(Amos  R.  Hershey:  Modern  Japan,  page  4) 

The  following  stories  illustrate  the  confusion: 
"Japanese  laborers  were  employed  on  my  railroad 
in  America,  and  on  my  private  car  I  discharged  the 
colored   porters   and   employed   only   Japanese.      I 
liked  them.    I  was  treated  well  in  Japan.    But  since 
seeing  how  they  have  acted  over  here  in  Siberia  I'll 
never  employ  another  Japanese  as  long  as  I  live." 
Thus  spoke  an  American  railroad  man  in  Febru- 

6 


CONFLICTING  REPORTS  7 

ary,  1919,  as  we  rode  between  Harbin  and  Vladi- 
vostok on  a  slowly  moving  train  of  the  Chinese 
Eastern. 

By  contrast  read  the  words  of  Major  General 
Graves,  the  Commanding  Officer  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  Forces  in  Vladivostok:  "We  have 
received  only  the  most  courteous  treatment  from 
General  Otani  (the  Japanese  Commanding  General 
in  Siberia)  and  the  other  Japanese  officers.  In  the 
distribution  of  barracks,  in  cooperation  in  trans- 
portation, and  in  all  other  dealings  we  have  found 
no  cause  for  complaint.  They  have  been  fine  people 
to  work  with." 

A  writer  in  The  New  Republic  recently  asserted: 
"Japan  seldom,  if  ever,  keeps  important  interna- 
tional promises."  Not  long  after  reading  this  ex- 
travagant statement,  I  was  asked  by  a  well-read 
gentleman  in  New  York  if  Japan  had  ever  been 
known  to  break  an  international  agreement. 

One  American  business  man  reports  that  because 
of  their  dishonesty  he  has  had  to  give  up  trade  with 
Japanese  firms;  while  another  publicly  asserts  that 
his  customers  in  Tokyo  need  watching  no  more  than 
his  customers  in  Boston. 

An  American  traveler  who  spent  six  weeks  in 
Japan,  writing  in  The  Nation  says: 

"The  most  striking  and  humiliating  testimony 
as  to  business  methods  in  the  East  came  to  me 
from  a  young  American  architect  who  has  been 
in  Japan  for  the  last  few  years  superintending 


8  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

the  erection  of  one  of  the  largest  plants  in  Tokyo. 
He  told  me  that  he  was  dumb-founded  at  the 
business  morals  of  supposedly  reputable  Amer- 
ican and  British  firms  in  Japan.  He  had  dis- 
covered, he  said,  that  in  the  purchase  of  ma- 
terials used  in  construction  he  could  not  trust 
them  or  the  goods  they  supplied.  He  found  it 
better  to  deal  with  Japanese  firms."  (The 
Nation ,  December  27,  1919) 

The  above  is  typical  of  the  Japanese  pro  and  con 
talk  one  hears  all  over  the  world.  To  acquaint  the 
reader  more  fully  with  the  confusion  of  fact  in  such 
stories  about  Japan  I  have  selected  the  following 
personally  investigated  anecdotes  from  a  mass  of 
similar  material  which  I  collected  during  my  eight 
months  in  Manchuria  and  Siberia.  These  pages  will 
illustrate  how  exaggerated  anti-Japanese  reports  are 
sometimes  built  on  slim  foundations.  They  will  also 
reveal  a  series  of  errors  committed  by  a  certain  group 
in  the  Japanese  nation.  While  our  hearts  cry  out 
against  these  wrongs,  let  us  remember  with  friendly 
sympathy  that  growing  number  of  Japanese  who 
are  pained  equally  with  us  by  the  mistaken  conduct 
of  their  fellow  countrymen. 

THE  GENERAL  KNOX  INCIDENT 

A  few  weeks  after  the  allied  expedition  entered 
Siberia,  General  Knox,  the  ranking  British  Officer, 
was  riding  west  over  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway. 
At  Bukedu  Station,  with  a  Russian  officer  who  was 


GENERAL  KNOX  9 

also  in  British  uniform,  he  was  walking  on  the  plat- 
form near  his  train.  A  Japanese  lieutenant  who 
spoke  English  approached  and  abruptly  said  to  the 
General:  "You  are  German  officer."  Imagine  the 
effect  of  such  a  remark  on  an  Englishman  who  had 
been  fighting  the  Prussians  for  four  years.  With 
great  self-restraint  General  Knox  made  no  reply 
and  walked  into  his  car.  General  Knox  was  in  regu- 
lar uniform  and  on  the  outside  of  his  car  was  painted 
the  British  flag.  Notwithstanding  this  the  Japanese 
officer  put  a  guard  on  the  engine  to  prevent  the  train 
from  starting,  and  with  another  officer  and  four  or 
five  soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets  entered  this  private 
car  of  an  allied  general  and  repeated  his  insulting 
accusation:  "You  are  German  officer."  This  time 
General  Knox  was  very  angry  and  told  his  accuser 
in  plain  English  it  was  none  of  his  business.  Finally 
General  Knox  asked  the  Japanese  for  his  card  and 
handed  out  his  own.  Even  then,  when  this  young 
officer  had  discovered  the  rank  and  nationality  of 
this  chief  of  an  allied  army,  he  demanded  to  know 
who  the  Russian  officer  was.  General  Knox  replied 
that  this  was  his  responsibility,  and  the  Japanese 
left  the  car.  Later  when  General  Knox  went  to  get 
the  guard  removed  from  the  engine  the  Japanese 
officer  made  a  slight  apology. 

As  some  publicity  was  given  to  this  incident,  the 
secretary  to  the  Japanese  War  Minister  sent  a  com- 
munication to  an  English  paper  in  Tokyo  and  ex- 
plained that  the  lieutenant  had  been  punished  for 
discourtesy  to  a  high  officer  of  a  friendly  army,  and 


io  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

had  been  recalled  to  Japan.  (Japan  Advertiser, 
Dec.  28,  1918.)  The  Japanese  Ambassador  in  Lon- 
don also  called  at  the  British  War  Office  to  enquire 
if  any  further  apology  should  be  made. 


RED  CROSS  AND  YMCA  TRAINS 

In  the  fall  of  1918  several  trainloads  of  American 
Red  Cross  and  YMCA  supplies  were  shipped  across 
the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  from  Vladivostok 
to  the  west.  The  cars  always  displayed  conspic- 
uously the  Red  Cross  or  the  Red  Triangle  and  the 
American  flag.  There  was  often  also  a  special  guard  of 
American  soldiers  attached  to  the  trains.  Notwith- 
standing the  obvious  nationality  and  object  of  these 
trains  they  were  again  and  again  entered  and  searched 
by  Japanese  railway  guards.  Without  knocking,  with 
no  effort  at  a  polite  apology,  rough  booted  soldiers, 
often  with  fixed  bayonets,  came  stamping  through 
the  corridor  of  a  private  car  opening  all  the  doors 
and  sometimes  insisting  on  taking  down  the  names 
of  all  on  board.  On  a  YMCA  train,  the  head  of 
which  was  a  Japanese  speaking  secretary,  the  annoy- 
ing searchings,  at  first  politely  endured,  became  so 
frequent  that  at  one  station  when  the  American 
guards  found  several  Japanese  soldiers  sitting  in  the 
compartment  of  the  chief  of  the  train,  where  on  the 
table  were  his  letters  and  private  papers,  they  drove 
them  out  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Similar  to 
the  above  is  the  story  told  me  by  an  American  en- 
gineer: Several  soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets  once  en- 


RED  CROSS  AND  ITALIANS  u 

tered  his  private  car,  threw  off  the  papers  on  the 
couch  and  sat  there  watching  him,  all  the  time  hold- 
ing their  guns  in  readiness.  At  the  same  time  one 
of  their  number  went  back  to  his  room  and  without 
removing  his  boots  took  a  nap  on  the  bed.  This 
lasted  for  three  hours  until  they  reached  another 
station. 

" FIGHT  WITH  ITALIANS" 

"Two  Japanese  soldiers  killed  by  Italians,  one  on 
the  street  and  one  at  the  station  at  Harbin,  two 
more  when  the  Italians  came  through  Changchun." 
This  was  a  story  I  heard  from  an  American  engineer. 
The  facts  I  found  were  that  no  Japanese  soldiers 
had  been  killed  by  anybody  in  Harbin,  but  that  at 
Changchun  a  real  misunderstanding  had  occurred. 
The  following  official  report  of  this  Italian  incident 
was  read  to  me  at  the  Changchun  police  station  from 
a  six  inch  pile  of  papers  reporting  "Dealings  with 
Foreigners  in  1918." 

"On  October  i6th  at  6:30  a.  m.  a  train  containing 
three  Italian  officers  and  204  soldiers  arrived  at  the 
junction  of  the  Japanese  and  Russian  Railroads. 
While  they  were  transferring  their  baggage  at  the 
station  a  Japanese  soldier  going  by  was  stopped  by 
the  Italian  guard.  The  Japanese  reported  the  mat- 
ter to  his  captain  who  came  out  from  his  office  in 
the  station  and  demanded  that  the  soldier  be  allowed 
to  pass  the  disputed  point.  As  they  could  not  under- 
stand each  other  a  warm  disagreement  arose.  The 
Italians  fixed  bayonets  and  stood  at  attention  on  one 


12  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

side  of  the  station  and  the  Japanese  were  called  out 
and  did  the  same  on  their  side.  A  superior  Japanese 
officer  from  general  headquarters  a  mile  away  rushed 
over  in  his  auto,  investigated  and  explained  the  mat- 
ter to  the  Italians  and  ordered  his  men  to  retire. 
The  dispute  arose  over  the  right  to  a  train.  As  the 
cars  were  furnished  to  the  Italians  by  the  Japanese 
who  had  obtained  them  from  the  Russians  the  young 
Japanese  captain  hotly  claimed  the  right  to  be  con- 
sulted about  the  matter.  The  Italians,  not  knowing 
the  circumstances,  contested  their  right  to  deal  di- 
rectly with  the  Russians  and  keep  the  Japanese  away 
from  the  cars.  A  little  language  knowledge  would 
have  prevented  the  whole  trouble. 

"BUSINESS  FOLLOWS  THE  FLAG" 

In  Siberia  I  frequently  heard  that  Japanese  busi- 
ness men,  taking  advantage  of  the  political  con- 
fusion and  the  presence  of  their  army,  were  ruthlessly 
buying  up  factories,  mines  and  other  property.  At 
Harbin  I  met  a  rabid  anti-Japanese  Russian.  He 
repeated  the  accusation  of  commercial  aggrandise- 
ment. Now,  I  thought,  I  can  get  the  fact  I  have 
been  looking  for,  and  asked  him  what  property  had 
been  bought.  His  disappointing  reply  was:  "One 
flour  mill  and  a  small  electric  light  station  in  Old 
Harbin  (the  smallest  of  the  four  districts  of  the 
city)."  As  there  are  3,500  Japanese  residents  in  this 
city  of  nearly  200,000  people,  where  are  located  in 
the  city  and  vicinity  seventeen  flour  mills,  twenty 


JAPANESE  BUSINESS  IN  SIBERIA  13 

bean  oil  pressing  factories  and  a  large  British  packing 
firm,  I  was  not  deeply  impressed  with  evidences  of 
Japanese  greed.  Although  hundreds  of  Japanese 
business  men  have  been  cruising  around  in  Siberia 
and  North  Manchuria  I  cannot  discover  that  any 
large  number,  excepting  the  barbers,  laundrymen, 
restaurant  and  hotel  keepers,  automobile  renters, 
small  importers,  money  changers,  bankers  and  ship- 
pers, are  exploiting  Russia.  Even  Dr.  Paul  S. 
Reinsch,  who  ought  to  have  access  to  detailed  in- 
formation if  there  is  any  available,  had  to  acknowl- 
edge that  regarding  the  big  concessions  reported  to 
have  been  granted  to  Japanese  he  could  get  no  clear 
information.  (Cf.  Asia,  Feb.-March,  1920,  p.  166) 

SMUGGLERS 

"Japanese  are  smuggling  merchandise  into  Siberia 
on  transports  and  military  trains."  This  accusation 
I  heard  from  many  sources. 

"A  car  which  broke  down  on  being  opened  was 
found  to  be  full,  not  of  ammunition,  but  of  vodka." 

"A  Japanese  general  who  travels  up  and  down  the 
line  carries  with  him  goods  filling  four  trunks,  the 
limit  of  baggage  allowed  an  officer  of  that  rank." 

These  stories  all  reached  me  after  the  trail  was 
cold.  But  I  investigated  them  as  well  as  I  could. 
Regarding  the  contraband-carrying  general,  an  offi- 
cer of  his  rank  may  carry  any  amount  of  baggage 
he  likes,  so  that  the  four  trunks  limit  story  must  be 
a  myth.  As  to  the  vodka,  the  Japanese  army  can- 


i4  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

teen  is  run  by  contractors  in  civilian  clothes.  With 
the  permission  of  the  various  local  commanders  they 
purchase  goods,  ship  them  on  military  transports 
and  trains  and  sell  them  to  the  soldiers.  As  Japanese 
sake  is  sold  in  all  these  canteens  the  vodka  story  is 
doubtless  based  on  sake  shipments  for  the  canteens. 
That  the  Japanese  army  sold  to  Russian  civilians 
goods  on  which  no  duty  was  paid  is  to  a  small  degree 
true,  since  the  army  allows  the  canteens  to  sell  to 
anybody.  I  myself  have  bought  soap,  towels,  fruit 
and  sweets  from  them,  but  I  know  that  their  non- 
army  business  is  only  on  a  small  scale.  It  does  give 
ground,  however,  for  the  criticism  of  cheating  the 
Russians  out  of  the  customs  tax. 

Some  other  customless  goods  have  been  brought 
in  and  sold  to  Russians.  Mr.  Ishikawa,  pastor  of 
the  Russian  Orthodox  Church  in  Tokyo,  to  relieve 
his  fellow  believers  in  the  Trans  Baikal,  sent  to  the 
west  on  military  trains  goods  which  were  to  be  sold 
at  cost  by  the  Russian  Church  authorities.  I  met 
him  at  Harbin  when  he  was  trying  to  get  off  three 
carloads. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  intervention  when  the 
lack  of  provisions  was  desperate,  the  Japanese  army 
and  the  Economic  Relief  Society  bought  goods  and 
sent  them  to  Habarovsk  and  beyond  and  into  the 
Trans  Baikal  district.  Thirty-five  carloads  were  sent 
to  the  Amur  region  and  on  November  2ist  28,000 
poods  (500  tons)  of  flour  was  sent  from  Harbin  for 
the  relief  of  the  famine  in  Trans  Baikal.  This  was 
sold  at  Chita  at  a  little  less  than  cost. 


SMUGGLERS  15 

Some  smuggling  was  done.  Japanese  business  men 
were  discovered  loading  their  goods  on  partly  rilled 
army  freight  cars  and  two  canteen  merchants  were 
arrested  and  punished.  As  smuggling  by  Russians 
and  Chinese  was  a  regular  part  of  the  day's  work  it 
was  only  natural  that  some  Japanese  should  be 
drawn  into  the  maelstrom,  but  I  found  no  evidence 
that  the  army  deliberately  allowed  it. 

My  most  effective  attack  on  the  rumor  mongers 
was  the  discovery  and  tracing  up  at  Harbin  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1919,  of  a  warm  and  "very  interesting"  case 
of  suspected  opium  smuggling  on  a  large  scale  by 
Japanese  army  officers.  The  story  was  hot  gossip 
among  the  Russian  gendarmes,  the  Chinese  Customs 
employes  and  the  officials  of  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railroad.  The  accused  being  Japanese  and  I  being 
an  American  the  case  if  badly  handled  presented  the 
possibilities  of  an  international  mix  up;  if  rightly 
handled  of  a  big  clearing  of  the  critical  atmosphere. 
As  Colonel  Kurozawa,  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Japanese 
Quarter  Master's  Department  (Heitanbu),  had  en- 
couraged me  to  investigate  any  concrete  accusation, 
I  decided  to  follow  up  this  warm  trail  across  which 
no  herring  had  been  drawn. 

The  story  going  the  rounds  was  that  some  small 
heavy  boxes  had  been  brought  from  the  east  on  a 
Japanese  military  train  and  placed  in  a  certain  mili- 
tary godown  on  the  outskirts  of  Harbin.  A  Japanese 
guard  had  been  put  on  the  building  and  no  Russian 
was  allowed  to  approach.  Under  the  pretext  of 
getting  a  line  on  the  stuff  some  Russian  railroad 


16  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

clerks  had  been  sent  over  to  measure  the  godown. 
They  were  allowed  to  enter  all  the  other  compart- 
ments, but  this  special  suspected  one  was  tightly 
guarded.  Grounds  for  the  suspicion  were,  therefore, 
strong.  Japanese  army  officers,  rumor  continued, 
had  approached  a  Russian  smuggler  and  offered  to 
hand  over  these  opium  cases  if  he  would  divide  the 
profits.  The  quantity  being  so  large  the  smuggler 
did  not  dare  to  touch  it  unless  he  could  get  some 
railroad  man  in  on  the  deal.  The  official  approached 
said  he  would  not  mix  up  in  it,  and  finally  consulted 
General  Horvath,  chief  of  the  Chinese  Eastern,  as 
to  whether  they  should  prosecute  the  Japanese 
officers.  General  Horvath  ordered  that  nothing  be 
done.  Neither  the  Railroad  nor  the  Chinese  Customs 
would  take  up  any  case  against  the  Japanese  Army. 
This  all  certainly  sounded  "very  interesting." 

By  appointment  we  met  in  the  early  forenoon  at 
the  office  of  the  Station  Master  Krapivinski — Colo- 
nel Kurozawa  and  his  three  officers,  the  Station 
Master  and  his  burly  clerk,  my  Russian  interpreter 
loaned  from  the  Chinese  Customs  and  I.  The  at- 
mosphere was  tense.  I  doubt  if  ever  before  in  the 
history  of  the  Japanese  Army  had  an  officer  volun- 
tarily presented  himself  for  examination  before  such 
a  tribunal.  I  introduced  the  Colonel  and  explained 
to  the  railway  chief  that  I  was  trying  to  promote 
international  friendship  and  thought  here  was  a  good 
chance  to  clear  up  an  ugly  rumor.  I  added  that  the 
Japanese  had  agreed  to  have  the  suspected  godown 
examined,  on  condition  that  if  no  contraband  was 


SMUGGLERS  17 

discovered  the  Station  Master  would  apologize  and 
see  that  such  gossip  stopped.  He  readily  agreed  and 
added  that  it  would  be  a  real  relief  to  him  to  have 
the  matter  settled. 

Then  a  strange  but  fortunate  thing  happened. 
The  godown  which  was  originally  pointed  out  to  me 
as  the  suspected  one  and  which  Colonel  Kurozawa 
had  agreed  to  open  was  near  the  Station.  The  one 
they  proposed  to  examine  this  morning  was  an  old 
Russian  munitions  storehouse,  the  Intendanski  Ros- 
jest,  on  a  siding  two  miles  out  from  the  town.  The 
Colonel  and  his  officers  went  up  in  the  air,  my  heart 
stopped  beating  and  I  thought  the  jig  was  up.  But 
they  came  down  again  and  Bushido  won  the  day. 

"All  right,"  said  the  Colonel  with  some  heat,  "tell 
the  Station  Master  that  we  will  open  any  godown 
in  Harbin  for  his  examination.  The  honor  of  the 
Japanese  Army  has  been  attacked.  We're  ready  to 
go  to  the  limit." 

The  Rubicon  had  been  crossed.  It  was  also  per- 
fectly evident  that  the  stage  had  not  been  set.  In 
two  autos  kindly  provided  by  the  Colonel  we  all, 
excepting  the  Station  Master,  made  our  way  in  the 
cold  February  winds  out  to  the  big  godowns.  They 
lined  the  double  railroad  tracks  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile.  The  excitement  of  the  big  railroad  clerk 
was  amusing  to  see.  What  a  story  he  would  have 
to  repeat  before  an  admiring  audience  at  the  club 
tonight!  And  perhaps  he  would  get  the  reward 
from  the  Chinese  Customs  for  exposing  a  smuggling 
game. 


18  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

The  big  doors  of  the  first  compartment  were  thrown 
open  by  the  guard.  Field  guns  and  ammunition! 
Next  compartment  had  boxes,  overcoats  and  clothing 
only.  Another,  heavy  artillery  ammunition  in  neatly 
painted  boxes.  "Nothing  doing  here,"  said  the  rail- 
way clerk.  "These  aren't  the  suspected  compart- 
ments anyway.  They  are  at  the  other  end."  Down 
to  the  end  we  marched  and  number  one  was  opened 
up.  A  motley  array  of  belts,  cartridge  cases,  guns 
and  military  stores  captured  from  the  Bolsheviks. 
"Where  are  the  small  boxes?"  anxiously  inquired 
the  big  blue  coated  investigator.  In  number  two 
among  the  ammunition  cases  he  found  some  smaller 
boxes.  "Open  one  up,"  ordered  the  Colonel.  An 
orderly  produced  a  nail  puller  and  the  top  was  jerked 
off.  Four  three  inch  brass  shells.  The  poor  clerk 
was  getting  cold  feet. 

After  more  munitions,  a  pile  of  Standard  Oil  tins 
containing  carbide  for  auto  lights,  stacks  of  carts 
and  harnesses,  cases  of  shovels  and  bales  of  fodder, 
we  finally  in  number  four  found  a  tin  box  with  a 
screwed-on  top. 

"What's  here?" 

"Ammunition." 

"May  we  open  it?" 

"Off  with  the  top!" 

The  soldiers  drew  out  an  explosive  which  looked 
like  big  pieces  of  chewing  gum. 

"May  I  take  a  piece?"  asked  the  clerk. 

"Certainly,  but  don't  put  it  near  your  matches," 
was  the  Colonel's  laconic  reply. 


SMUGGLERS  I9 

After  number  five  the  big  Russian  had  had  enough. 
His  countenance  fell. 

"Shall  I  apologize  now?"  he  asked.  We  agreed 
that  he  should  report  to  his  chief  and  let  the  apology 
come  from  him. 

Back  to  the  autos  we  went,  a  crestfallen  clerk, 
some  happy  but  none  the  less  indignant  officers,  a 
custom  house  interpreter  who  began  to  look  wise 
and  an  American  who  was  still  wondering  what  the 
Japanese  would  think  of  the  whole  performance. 

Arriving  at  the  Station  Master's  office  the  clerk 
made  his  report.  He  exhibited  the  piece  of  chewing 
gum  explosive  as  the  nearest  thing  to  opium  he  could 
find.  The  gentlemanly  official  then  three  times  apol- 
ogized to  Colonel  Kurozawa  and  thanked  him  for 
his  great  trouble  in  helping  to  clear  away  the  sus- 
picion. 

"After  this,"  he  continued,  "whenever  a  railroad 
man  starts  any  such  story  we  will  at  once  stop  the 
rumor  and  punish  the  man  who  started  it.  In  case 
the  gossip  does  not  die  down  we  will  report  the 
matter  to  you." 

Again  he  apologised  to  the  Colonel  for  taking  his 
whole  forenoon  for  this  disagreeable  business,  thanked 
me  for  bringing  them  together,  and  we  parted  the 
best  of  friends. 

As  my  mystified  Custom  House  interpreter  left 
me,  his  face  lighted  up. 

"Now  I  understand,"  he  said,  "I  understand. 
This  is  a  story  invented  by  the  real  smugglers  to 
draw  a  herring  across  their  own  trail." 


20  JAPAN  PRO  AND  CON 

ARE  THE  JAPANESE  HONEST? 

I  cannot  resist  here  referring  to  the  oft  repeated 
question:  "Why  do  the  Japanese  employ  Chinese 
cashiers  in  their  banks?"  Let  David  Starr  Jordan 
reply:  "In  1911  there  were  2,133  native  banks  in 
Japan,  whereof  one  had  two  Chinese  tellers,  one  of 
these  being  in  jail  for  embezzlement  when  this  count 
was  made."  The  impression  that  Chinese  are  han- 
dling the  money  in  Japanese  banks  has  been  given 
to  visitors  in  the  port  cities.  These  travelers  carry 
letters  of  credit  to  the  British  or  American  banking 
houses.  These  foreign  banking  houses  were  estab- 
lished originally  by  their  agents  in  China  who 
brought  over  a  trained  staff  of  Chinese  clerks.  As 
much  of  their  business  is  still  done  with  China  and 
as  the  Chinese  are  experts  in  the  intricate  Oriental 
exchange,  Chinese  are  still  retained.  The  Chinese 
cashier  story,  therefore,  is  more  of  a  reflection  upon 
Britishers  and  Americans  than  upon  the  Japanese. 

If  this  chapter  has  accomplished  its  purpose  it 
will  have  left  the  reader  with  an  open  mind  regard- 
ing our  Oriental  neighbor.  The  remaining  chapters 
will  be  an  attempt  to  answer  the  question:  "What 
shall  I  think  of  Japan?" 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

EARLY  in  the  spring  of  1918  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment was  considering  intervention  in  Siberia.  From 
the  outset  the  authorities  were  divided  into  two 
parties,  the  aggressive,  which  favored  the  sending  of 
a  large  army  through  to  the  Urals  to  rid  the  country 
of  the  Bolsheviks  and  Germans;  and  the  conserva- 
tive, which  hesitated  to  launch  a  large  undertaking 
so  far  from  the  shores  of  Japan.  The  party  favoring 
intervention  was  supported  by  the  British  army 
officers,  many  of  whom  a  year  later  even  were  still 
expecting  the  revival  in  Russia  of  some  form  of  a 
monarchy.  They  believed  that  the  only  solution  of 
the  Russian  problem  was  the  prompt  suppression 
of  the  Bolsheviks.  To  this  policy  of  intervention 
President  Wilson  officially  placed  America  in  flat 
opposition.  He  did  this  in  a  note  to  the  Japanese 
Government  which  Mr.  Polk  of  the  State  Depart- 
ment in  March,  1918,  read  to  a  dinner  of  the  Allied 
Ambassadors  in  Washington.  (The  Nation,  Jan.  10, 
1920) 

This  policy  was  favored  by  the  majority  in  Japan 
and  in  May,  1918,  the  Japanese  government  defi- 
nitely decided  not  to  dispatch  an  army  to  Russia. 

Two  months  later,  however,  the  American  govern- 

21 


22  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

ment,  after  further  study  of  the  situation,  suddenly 
and  perhaps  without  due  consultation  with  her  asso- 
ciate announced  to  Japan  that  she  was  going  to 
dispatch  a  small  military  force  to  Vladivostok  to 
prevent  the  military  stores  from  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Germans,  and  also  to  rescue  the  Czechs. 
These  two  were  the  main  purposes  of  the  expedition. 
Japan  at  once  replied  that  she  would  join,  and  a 
public  announcement  was  made  at  Washington: 
"American  troops  numbering  about  7,000  under 
Major-General  William  S.  Graves,  and  an  equal 
number  of  Japanese  troops  under  General  Kikuzo 
Otani  (who  as  ranking  officer  will  be  commander  in 
the  field)  will  cooperate  with  the  Czecho-Slovaks 
in  undertaking  to  clear  Siberia  of  the  Austrians  and 
Germans,  liberated  prisoners  of  war,  who  have  been 
trying  to  control  that  vast  region."  (The  Outlook, 
Aug.  21,  1918) 

Japan  sent  her  Twelfth  Division  which  made  its 
headquarters  at  Habarovsk  and  America  sent  the 
Twenty-Seventh  and  the  Thirty-First  Regiments, 
establishing  headquarters  at  Habarovsk  and  Vladi- 
vostok. A  few  English,  Canadian,  French,  Italian 
and  Chinese  soldiers  also  joined  the  "Rainbow 
Army."  (For  exact  number  see  Appendix  to  this 
chapter.)  General  Otani,  being  the  ranking  officer, 
was  made  Commander  in  Chief  and  a  real  allied 
army  seemed  to  be  organized.  The  Czechs  were 
quickly  relieved  from  the  Bolsheviks  who  were 
pressing  them  on  the  front  north  of  Vladivostok; 
and  in  twenty  days  from  the  time  they  landed  the 


JAPANESE  AND  AMERICANS  23 

Japanese  soldiers  had  advanced  1,000  miles  to  Blago- 
veschensk,  well  up  on  the  Amur.  As  General  Yuhi, 
the  Japanese  Chief  of  Staff,  related  the  fact  he  la- 
conically added:  "I  wonder  if  ever  another  army 
advanced  as  far  in  so  short  a  time." 

From  the  first  the  cooperation  at  Vladivostok  was 
friendly  and  cordial.  General  Otani  and  his  staff 
did  everything  possible  to  promote  unity  and  good 
feeling.  The  British  and  French,  perhaps  because 
of  their  large  financial  interests  in  Russia,  soon  dis- 
patched their  troops  to  the  interior  and  supported 
the  Czechs  and  the  Omsk  Government  in  their  fight 
with  the  Bolsheviks.  The  Americans,  after  the 
sudden  opening  of  the  Trans-Siberian  in  August, 
1918,  and  the  consequent  relief  of  the  Czech  army, 
and  after  the  assurance  of  the  safety  of  the  Vladi- 
vostok stores  were  soon  left  with  nothing  further  to 
do.  They  settled  therefore  at  Habarovsk,  Vladivo- 
stok and  nearby  towns  where  there  were  Russian 
barracks  and  adopted  a  policy  of  watchful  waiting. 
There  was  much  to  watch  and  long  to  wait.  Sud- 
denly strange  reports  began  to  roll  into  Vladivostok 
that  large  bodies  of  Japanese  troops  had  appeared 
in  the  Trans-Baikal  Province,  at  Irkutsk,  Chita,  up 
on  the  Amur  Line  and  in  North  Manchuria.  Ques- 
tions put  to  the  Japanese  Staff  brought  the  reply 
that  these  troops  were  not  under  General  Otani 's 
command.  At  once  all  sorts  of  wild  rumors  filled 
the  air.  Intelligence  officers  were  sent  out  by  the 
Americans  to  investigate  movements  of  the  Japanese 
troops  and  to  try  to  find  out  what  they  were  about. 


24  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

Even  though  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Baron  Goto,  the  Foreign  Minister,  when  I  arrived 
in  Vladivostok  on  September  i9th,  I  could  not  make 
out  the  puzzle  until  early  in  November.  After 
traveling  nearly  4,000  miles  in  a  YMCA  club  freight 
car  over  the  Amur  Line  to  Chita  and  back  to 
Vladivostok  I  finally  learned  from  a  Japanese  army 
officer  that  Japan  had  three  separate  armies  in  Siberia 
and  North  Manchuria — the  Twelfth  Division  coop- 
erating with  the  Allies  at  Vladivostok,  the  Seventh 
Division  with  headquarters  at  Manchuli  which  was 
guarding  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway,  and  the 
huge  Third  Division  with  headquarters  at  Chita. 
The  Twelfth  Division  was  controlled  from  Vladivo- 
stok, the  Seventh  Division  from  the  Kwantung  Ad- 
ministration at  Port  Arthur,  the  Third  Division 
directly  from  the  General  Staff  in  Tokyo.  The  re- 
sult was  that  General  Otani  who  was  supposed  to 
be  the  head  of  the  inter-allied  expedition  in  Siberia 
was  in  command  of  only  a  third  of  the  Japanese 
Army,  and  complaints  brought  to  him  of  the  con- 
duct of  the  soldiers  of  the  Third  and  Seventh  Divi- 
sions he  had  to  acknowledge  he  was  powerless  to 
touch. 

These  facts  gradually  becoming  known  at  the 
Vladivostok  national  headquarters  killed  that  com- 
plete faith  and  trust  in  Japan  which  characterized 
the  early  days  of  the  expedition.  Rumors  were  also 
circulated  that  Japanese  troops  had  appeared  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Amur,  at  a  place  east  of  Kirin  on 
the  coast  of  Manchuria  and  on  the  trade  route  from 


JAPAN'S  THREE  DIVISIONS  25 

Mongolia.  Thus,  rumor  said,  Japan  had  control  of 
every  commercial  door  into  eastern  Russia.  "What 
has  Japan  up  her  sleeve?"  was  the  universal  question. 
The  country  which  had  announced  in  July  that  she 
would  join  America  in  sending  a  small  expedition  of 
7,000  or  8,000  troops  now  had  over  70,000  in  Siberia 
and  Manchuria  north  of  Changchun.  Japanese  who 
are  perplexed  at  the  cause  of  so  much  anti-Japanese 
feeling  in  northern  Asia  will  find  in  this  uncooperative 
method  of  dispatching  her  troops  a  chief  cause  for 
the  recent  widespread  suspicion.  Army  men  may 
affirm  that  Japanese  citizens  and  their  interests  in 
Manchuria  were  in  danger  and  the  dispatch  of  large 
forces  was  the  only  method  of  protecting  them  as 
well  as  the  Czechs;  diplomats  may  explain  that  with 
the  decision  to  join  America  in  a  small  expedition 
the  pro-intervention-on-a-large-scale  party  took  the 
bit  in  their  teeth  and  ran  away  with  the  Foreign 
Office;  others  may  say  that  America  was  notified  of 
this  change  of  plan.  But  many  who  knew  the  facts 
of  the  presence  of  these  three  armies,  remembering 
as  all  foreigners  in  the  Far  East  do  the  "Twenty- 
one  Demands"  on  China  in  1915,  concluded  that 
somewhere  in  Japan  there  was  a  plan  for  enhancing 
Japan's  prestige  in  Northern  Asia  while  the  Allies 
were  wrestling  with  Germany  in  the  trenches  of  de- 
vastated France.  This  conclusion  that  behind  the 
deeds  of  the  spring  of  1915  and  the  summer  of  1918 
was  a  purpose  contrary  to  the  new  spirit  of  inter- 
national dealings  has  roused  suspicions  which  were 
confirmed  by  the  insistent  demands  at  Paris  for 


26  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

Shantung  and  by  the  aggressive  military  action  in 
Siberia  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  other  armies  in 
the  spring  of  1920;  and  which  will  require  not  months 
but  years  of  honest  generous  diplomacy  to  remove. 

ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  TANAKA  DETACHMENT 

On  February  26th,  1919,  at  Yufuka  in  the  Amur 
district  a  detachment  of  250  Japanese  soldiers  under 
Major  Tanaka  was  surprised  in  the  night  by  a  strong 
force  of  Russians  and  completely  annihilated.  At 
about  the  same  time  around  Blagoveschensk  there 
were  several  other  engagements  so  that  the  total 
loss  of  Japanese  in  encounters  with  so-called  Bolshe- 
viks up  to  August,  1919,  was  573  killed  and  473 
wounded.  These  losses  coming  to  the  Japanese 
army  alone  while  the  other  allies  were  almost  un- 
touched aroused  not  a  little  resentment  in  Japan, 
and  as  the  Tokyo  Nichi  Nichi  expressed  it  "worked 
considerably  on  the  nerves  of  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment authorities." 

Some  of  the  newspapers  vented  their  irritation  on 
the  War  Office  and  some  on  the  Americans.  The 
Osaka  Mainichi  in  its  issue  of  March  4th: 

"In  this  unfortunate  encounter  (at  Yufuka)  we 
must  see  evidences  of  the  complete  loss  of  influence 
and  popularity  of  our  expeditionary  forces  in  Siberia. 
Our  army  Commander,  Otani,  the  so-called  Gen- 
eralissimo of  the  Allied  Forces,  is  not  at  all  recog- 
nized as  such  among  the  armies  of  the  several  coun- 
tries. As  a  result  the  situation  in  Siberia  has  given 


THE  TANAKA  TRAGEDY  27 

our  men,  from  the  officers  down  to  the  common  sol- 
diers, the  appearance  of  nothing  more  than  sub- 
ordinate followers  of  others.  This  after  all  proves 
that  the  policy  of  the  Imperial  Government  in  the 
Siberian  intervention  has  in  it  no  consistency." 

Most  of  the  Tokyo  vernacular  papers  accused  the 
American  Expeditionary  Force  of  "lacking  in  the 
spirit  of  cooperation  and  being  in  sympathy  with 
the  Bolshevik  uprisings."  The  Tokyo  Asahi  de- 
clared that  "the  recent  engagements  which  proved 
so  disastrous  to  the  Japanese  resulted  as  it  did  be- 
cause the  American  military  authorities,  despite  an 
urgent  request  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese,  declined 
to  help  the  latter  in  the  battle  with  the  Bolsheviks." 

"A  Power,"  said  the  Kokumin,  "has  recently  been 
very  sympathetic  towards  the  Bolsheviks  and  takes 
an  indifferent  attitude  towards  their  uprisings,  al- 
ways declining  to  help  the  Japanese  troops  which 
have  engaged  in  battles  which  have  resulted  in 
serious  losses  to  the  Japanese." 

Most  of  the  papers  reported  that  before  the  terrible 
annihilation  of  Major  Tanaka's  detachment  the 
Americans  at  Harbarovsk  had  been  asked  to  send 
reinforcements  and  had  rejected  the  request.  But 
neither  Colonel  Styer  nor  General  Graves  had  de- 
clined the  proposal,  as  is  made  plain  in  the  following 
report  given  out  to  press  correspondents  on  March 
1 4th  by  the  American  headquarters  in  Vladivostok: 

"On  February  i4th  General  Oi,  the  Japanese 
commander  at  Habarovsk,  asked  Colonel  Styer  for 
a  company  of  American  troops  to  assist  in  suppress- 


28  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

ing  a  Bolshevik  uprising  in  Blagoveschensk  district. 
Colonel  Styer  referred  the  matter  to  General  Graves 
at  Vladivostok  who  sent  his  Chief  of  Staff  Colonel 
Robinson  to  enquire  whether  the  revolt  was  actually 
a  Bolshevik  uprising  or  whether  the  people  were 
simply  arming  themselves  in  an  effort  to  have  pro- 
tection against  the  cruelty  practised  on  them  by  the 
Cossacks.  Behind  General  Graves'  question  was 
the  determination  not  to  use  American  troops  against 
people  who  were  merely  resisting  persecution  and 
violence.  General  Yuhi,  the  Japanese  Chief  of  Staff, 
said  he  had  no  information  tending  to  prove  that 
the  persons  referred  to  were  Bolsheviks  and  he  asked 
General  Graves  to  take  no  action  pending  word  from 
him.  Since  then  General  Graves  has  heard  nothing 
from  General  Yuhi."  (Quoted  in  North  China  Star, 
March  25,  1919) 

This  is  one  of  several  cases  of  friction  arising  from 
the  lack  of  an  allied  policy  which  Japan,  as  the  most 
interested  party,  should  have  promoted. 

JAPANESE  AND  AMERICAN  POLICIES  COMPARED 

The  Americans  took  pride  in  the  fact  that  although 
they  did  their  best  to  relieve  the  little  Czech  army 
up  on  the  Ussuri  in  the  summer  of  1918  and  made  a 
forced  march  of  seventy  miles  through  indescribable 
mud  and  rain,  some  of  the  soldiers  doing  the  last 
day's  seventeen  miles  in  bare  feet,  the  Americans  in 
the  first  eight  months  never  killed  a  Russian.  Amer- 
icans did  not  attack  Bolsheviks  because  in  regard  to 


JAPANESE  AND  AMERICAN  POLICIES          29 

Russia  their  minds  were  not  made  up  and  they  sus- 
pected that  those  who  shot  Bolsheviks  were  shooting 
at  an  idea,  and  "you  can't  kill  an  idea  with  a  gun." 
As  one  thoughtful  American  said,  "It  may  be  that 
Russia  is  in  the  throes  of  bringing  to  birth  a  new 
economic  basis  of  human  relations  which  may  be  as 
great  a  contribution  to  human  progress  as  Luther's 
Reformation  and  the  Abolition  of  the  Slaves.  Birth 
means  travail.  Prematurely  stop  the  travail  and 
death  results.  Of  only  one  thing  are  we  Americans 
sure:  the  improvement  of  the  railroad  will  help 
Russia." 

And  so  the  American  engineers  who  came  to  help 
Russia  reorganize  her  transportation  and  revive  the 
front  against  Germany,  if  our  above  metaphor  is 
correct,  cooperated  in  putting  a  healthy  artery  of 
peace,  plenty  and  hope  through  the  very  heart  of 
Russia.  By  so  doing  they  tried  to  improve  condi- 
tions so  that  any  great  idea  Russia  had  to  give  to 
the  world  might  be  born.  Americans  are  not  pro- 
Bolshevik,  they  cannot  uphold  the  destruction  of  life 
and  property  nor  the  rapid  consumption  of  the  cap- 
ital and  wealth  accumulated  in  the  past  decades. 
Neither  are  Americans  entirely  anti-Bolshevik.  We 
cannot  be  a  party  to  suppressing  the  legitimate  am- 
bitions of  the  long  oppressed  peasants  and  workers. 
We  have,  therefore,  seen  in  Siberia  that  the  one 
thing  we  could  safely  do  was  to  improve  the  rail- 
road, guard  it  and  announce  to  the  people  that  they 
must  keep  their  quarrels  away  from  the  railway 
zone.  This  policy  of  neutrality  between  the  Omsk 


30  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

Government  and  the  Bolsheviks  made  the  Ameri- 
cans persona  non  grata  to  both  sides.  But  under- 
neath all  the  acts  of  the  Americans  has  been  the 
conviction  expressed  by  General  Graves  when  I 
first  met  him: 

"The  Russians  must  be  made  to  believe  that  the 
Allies  are  working  to  get  the  will  of  the  people  car- 
ried out  in  the  Russian  Government.  Only  when 
the  people  are  thus  convinced  will  they  welcome  us." 

Thus  both  the  military  and  political  policies  of 
Japan  and  America  in  Siberia  have  been  different. 
The  same  may  perhaps  be  said  of  policies  of  the 
other  Allies.  But  as  both  the  American  and  the 
Japanese  people  were  given  to  understand  that  their 
governments  were  cooperating  the  discovery  that 
they  were  not  has  aroused  ill-will.  This  has  expressed 
itself  in  caustic  newspaper  articles  and  in  the  friction 
evidenced  in  the  stories  related  above. 

Due  allowance  must,  of  course,  be  made  for  fric- 
tion arising  through  language  difficulties.  Lack  of 
knowledge  of  English  and  Russian  by  the  Japanese 
army  men  and  of  Japanese  by  the  other  associated 
powers  probably  accounts  for  more  than  half  of  the 
little  unpleasant  incidents.  As  I  speak  their  language 
I  have  had  only  one  or  two  disagreeable  experiences. 
In  fact,  unfriendly  acts  from  my  own  countrymen 
have  been  more  frequent  than  from  the  Japanese. 

In  studying  the  Japanese  in  Siberia  one  should  also 
remember  that  the  Nippon  soldier  has  been  trained 
to  fight  and  not  to  make  friends.  As  the  Siberian 
expedition  was  essentially  a  campaign  of  friendship 


CONCLUSION  31 

the  Japanese  were  handicapped  at  the  start.  They 
did,  however,  make  honest  efforts  to  remove  all 
causes  of  offence  and  since  the  first  of  December, 
1918,  with  rare  exceptions  acted  towards  both  the 
Russians  and  Allies  with  great  punctiliousness.  At 
Christmas  a  most  thoughtful  act  of  courtesy  was 
performed.  Their  Majesties  the  Emperor  and  Em- 
press presented  every  American  soldier  with  cigar- 
ettes, the  Crown  Prince  sent  candy  and  the  Soldiers' 
Relief  Society  sent  each  man  a  cake  of  soap,  a  pack- 
age of  writing  paper  and  a  set  of  post  cards. 

CONCLUSION 

At  the  end  of  1918  there  were  three  unfinished 
international  tasks  in  Siberia: 

1 .  The  development  of  a  United  Military  Program. 

2.  The  development  of  a  United  Political  Program. 

3.  The  solution  of  the  Railroad  Problem. 

If  Japan,  before  the  Peace  Conference  acted,  could 
have  led  the  associated  Powers  to  unite  in  these  three 
ways  she  might  have  won  the  right  at  that  time  to 
be  called  the  Preserver  of  the  Peace  of  the  Orient. 

The  question  of  the  railroad  management  was 
settled  late  in  January  and  in  March  public  announce- 
ments began  to  be  made.  By  May  the  160  American 
engineers,  130  Japanese  and  a  few  Chinese,  British, 
French,  Italians,  and  Czechs  were  helping  the  Rus- 
sians to  put  their  traffic  system  in  order.  A  united 
military  and  political  program  was  harder  to  achieve. 
The  cause  can  be  found  partly  in  the  history  of  Japan 


32  THE  SIBERIAN  EXPEDITION 

and  America,  and  I  might  add  England  too.  But 
the  chief  cause  for  the  continued  confusion  was 
Japan's  lack  of  frankness.  Not  only  did  she  send 
her  second  and  third  armies  without  due  conference 
with  the  associated  Powers,  but  when  they  were 
united  under  General  Otani  on  December  5th  no 
public  announcement  was  made.  Also  she  failed  to 
consult  with  her  Allies  regarding  the  return  of  the 
34,000  soldiers  which  was  abruptly  announced  on 
December  28th,  and  finally  not  until  the  other 
armies  had  withdrawn  did  she  publicly  acknowledge 
her  support  of  the  Cossack  Atamans,  Semenov  and 
Kalmikov. 

The  other  Powers,  knowing  that  Japan  was  acting 
thus  independently,  also  continued  their  separate 
policies,  until  the  confusion  became  so  great  that 
they  all  decided,  outside  of  cooperating  on  the  rail- 
road management,  to  worry  along  until  orders  should 
come  from  the  Paris  Conference.  Such  instructions 
never  came.  An  effort  at  united  action,  delayed  and 
abortive,  was  finally  made  in  May,  1919,  when  a 
note  signed  by  Lloyd  George,  Clemenceau,  Orlando, 
Makino  and  Wilson  was  sent  offering  on  certain 
conditions  united  aid  to  Admiral  Kolchak.  (Cf. 
Appendix  to  this  chapter  for  the  full  text.)  Kolchak 
accepted  the  conditions  and  American  arms  were 
shipped.  This  was  a  disappointing  reversal  of  the 
American  policy  of  strict  neutrality.  It  accom- 
plished nothing,  as  Kolchak  was  soon  overpowered 
by  the  Soviet  forces,  and  it  lost  us  the  moral  leader- 
ship in  both  Russia  and  Japan  which  we  had  won 


JAPAN  DESERTED  33 

by   a   consistent   policy   of  patient   neutrality   and 
friendly  service  to  all  the  Russians. 

The  delay  in  treaty  ratification  by  the  American 
Senate  prevented  the  early  functioning  of  the  League 
of  Nations.  The  American  Government,  without 
waiting  for  the  repatriation  of  the  Czechs  or  the 
formation  of  a  united  policy  for  Siberia,  and  without 
full  consultation  with  Japan,  prompted  evidently  by 
confused  political  conditions  at  home,  abruptly  an- 
nounced in  January,  1920,  the  intention  to  remove 
from  Siberia  all  Americans  including  soldiers,  Red 
Cross  workers  and  railroad  engineers.  Suddenly 
deserted  by  her  associates  Japan,  ambitious  for  con- 
trol of  new  wealth  and  fearful  of  Bolshevism,  wav- 
ered for  two  months  between  complete  withdrawal 
and  reinforced  military  occupation.  With  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Diet  late  in  February  and  the  conse- 
quent removal  of  restraint  on  the  military  party  the 
government  early  in  April  announced  its  decision  to 
remain  in  Siberia.  A  policy  of  aggressive  control  of 
the  railroad  east  of  Lake  Baikal  seems  to  have  been 
adopted.  Thus  resulting  from  President  Wilson's 
invitation  in  1918  for  a  cooperative  expedition  we 
see  Japan  forcibly  intrenching  herself  in  eastern 
Siberia,  adding  the  Russians  to  her  list  of  neighbor 
enemies,  while  America  washes  her  hands  and  goes 
home.  Confusion  at  Washington  and  indecision  in 
Tokyo  have  created  a  Siberian  problem  pregnant 
with  grave  perils. 


34  APPENDIX 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  III 

A.  Correspondence  between  the  Allied  and  Asso- 
ciated Powers  and  Admiral  Kolchak  (John 
Spargo:  "Russia  as  an  American  Problem,"  pp. 
392-401) 

I 

Despatch  to  Admiral  Kolchak,  dated  May  26,  1919 

The  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  feel  that  the 
time  has  come  when  it  is  necessary  for  them  once 
more  to  make  clear  the  policy  they  propose  to  pursue 
in  regard  to  Russia. 

It  has  always  been  a  cardinal  axiom  of  the  Allied 
and  Associated  Powers  to  avoid  interference  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  Russia.  Their  original  interven- 
tion was  made  for  the  sole  purpose  of  assisting  the 
struggle  against  German  autocracy  and  to  free  their 
country  from  German  rule,  and  in  order  to  rescue 
the  Czecho-Slovaks  from  the  danger  of  annihilation 
at  the  hands  of  the  Bolshevik  forces. 

The  Overtures  to  Moscow 

Since  the  signature  of  the  armistice  on  November 
n,  1918,  they  have  kept  forces  in  various  parts  of 
Russia.  Munitions  and  supplies  have  been  sent  to 
assist  those  associated  with  them  at  a  very  consid- 
erable cost.  No  sooner,  however,  did  the  Peace 
Conference  assemble  than  they  endeavored  to  bring 
peace  and  order  to  Russia  by  inviting  representatives 
of  all  the  warring  governments  within  Russia  to 


DESPATCH  TO  ADMIRAL  KOLCHAK  35 

meet  them,  in  the  hope  that  they  might  be  able  to 
arrange  a  permanent  solution  of  Russian  problems. 

This  proposal,  and  a  later  offer  to  relieve  the  dis- 
tress among  the  suffering  millions  of  Russia,  broke 
down  through  the  refusal  of  the  Soviet  government 
to  accept  the  fundamental  conditions  of  suspending 
hostilities  while  negotiations  for  the  work  of  relief 
were  proceeding. 

Some  of  the  Allied  and  Associated  Governments 
are  now  being  pressed  to  withdraw  their  troops  and 
to  incur  no  further  expense  in  Russia,  on  the  ground 
that  continued  intervention  shows  no  prospect  of 
producing  an  early  settlement.  They  are  prepared, 
however,  to  continue  their  assistance  on  the  lines 
laid  down  below,  provided  they  are  satisfied  that  it 
will  really  help  the  Russian  people  to  liberty,  self- 
government,  and  peace. 

The  Allied  and  Associated  Governments  now  wish 
to  declare  formally  that  the  object  of  their  policy  is 
to  restore  peace  within  Russia  by  enabling  the  Rus- 
sian people  to  assume  control  of  their  own  affairs 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  freely  elected  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  and  to  restore  peace  along  its 
frontiers  by  arranging  for  the  settlement  of  disputes 
in  regard  to  the  boundaries  of  the  Russian  state  and 
its  relations  with  its  neighbors  through  the  peaceful 
arbitration  of  the  League  of  Nations. 

The  Conditions  of  Recognition 

They  are  convinced  by  their  experiences  of  the 
last  twelve  months  that  it  is  not  possible  to  attain 


36  APPENDIX 

these  ends  by  dealings  with  the  Soviet  government 
of  Moscow.  They  are  therefore  disposed  to  assist 
the  government  of  Admiral  Kolchak  and  his  asso- 
ciates with  munitions,  supplies,  and  food  to  establish 
themselves  as  the  government  of  All-Russia,  pro- 
vided they  receive  from  them  definite  guaranties 
that  their  policy  has  the  same  objects  in  view  as 
that  of  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers.  With  this 
object  they  would  ask  Admiral  Kolchak  and  his 
associates  whether  they  would  agree  to  the  following 
as  the  conditions  upon  which  they  accept  continued 
assistance  from  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers: 

1.  That  as  soon  as  they  reach  Moscow  they  will 
summon  a  Constituent  Assembly,  elected  by  a  free, 
secret,   and   democratic   franchise   as   the   supreme 
legislature  for  Russia,  to  which  the  government  of 
Russia  must  be  responsible,  or,  if  at  that  time  order 
is  not  sufficiently  restored,  they  will  summon  the 
Constituent  Assembly  elected  in   1917  to  sit  until 
such  time  as  new  elections  are  possible. 

2.  That  throughout  the  areas  which  they  at  pres- 
ent control  they  will  permit  free  elections  in  the 
normal  course  for  all  local  and  legally  constituted 
assemblies,  such  as  municipalities,  zemstvos,  etc. 

3.  That  they  will  countenance  no  attempt  to  re- 
vive the  special  privileges  of  any  class  or  order  in 
Russia.     The  Allied   and  Associated  Powers  have 
noted  with  satisfaction  the  solemn  declarations  made 
by  Admiral  Kolchak  and  his  associates  that  they 
have  no  intention  of  restoring  the  former  land  system. 
They  feel  that  the  principles  to  be  followed  in  the 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  KOLCHAK  37 

solution  of  this  and  other  internal  questions  must 
be  left  to  the  free  decision  of  the  Russian  Constituent 
Assembly;  but  they  wish  to  be  assured  that  those 
whom  they  are  prepared  to  assist  stand  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty  of  all  Russian  citizens,  and  will  make 
no  attempt  to  reintroduce  the  regime  which  the 
Revolution  has  destroyed. 

4.  That  the  independence  of  Finland  and  Poland 
be  recognized,  and,  in  the  event  of  the  frontiers  and 
other  relations  between  Russia  and  these  countries 
not  being  settled  by  agreement,   they  will  be  re- 
ferred to  the  arbitration  of  the  League  of  Nations. 

5.  That  if  a  solution   of  the  relations  between 
Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  and  the  Caucasian  and 
Trans-Caspian  territories  and  Russia  is  not  speedily 
reached  by  agreement,  the  settlement  will  be  made 
in  consultation  and  cooperation  with  the  League  of 
Nations,  and  that  until  such  settlement  is  made  the 
government  of  Russia  agrees  to  recognize  these  terri- 
tories as  autonomous,  and  to  confirm  the  relations 
which  may  exist  between  their  de  facto  governments 
and  the  Allied  and  Associated  Governments. 

6.  That  the  right  of  the  Peace  Conference  to  de- 
termine the  future  of  the  Rumanian  part  of  Bess- 
arabia be  recognized. 

7.  That  as  soon  as  a  government  for  Russia  has 
been  constituted  on  a  democratic  basis  Russia  should 
join  the  League  of  Nations  and  cooperate  with  the 
other  members  in  the  limitation  of  armaments  and 
military  organization  throughout  the  world. 

Finally,  that  they  abide  by  the  declaration  made 


38  APPENDIX 

by  Admiral  Kolchak's  government  on  November  27, 
1918,  in  regard  to  Russia's  national  debts. 

The  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  will  be  glad  to 
learn  as  soon  as  possible  whether  the  government  of 
Admiral  Kolchak  and  his  associates  are  prepared  to 
accept  these  conditions,  and  also  whether,  in  the 
event  of  acceptance,  they  will  undertake  to  form  a 
single  government,  and  as  soon  as  the  military  situa- 
tion makes  it  possible. 

(Signed)     G.  CLEMENCEAU, 
D.  LL.  GEORGE, 
V.  E.  ORLANDO, 
WOODROW  WILSON, 
MAKING. 

II 

Reply  of  Admiral  Kolchak  to  the  Powers 

Dated  Omsk,  June  4,  1919 
(Original  in  French) 

The  government  over  which  I  preside  has  been 
happy  to  learn  that  the  policy  of  the  Allied  and 
Associated  Powers  in  regard  to  Russia  is  in  perfect 
accord  with  the  task  which  the  Russian  government 
itself  has  undertaken,  that  government  being  anx- 
ious above  all  things  to  reestablish  peace  in  the 
country  and  to  assure  to  the  Russian  people  the 
right  to  decide  their  own  destiny  in  freedom  by 
means  of  a  Constituent  Assembly.  I  appreciate 
highly  the  interest  shown  by  the  Powers  as  regards 
the  national  movement,  and  consider  their  wish  to 


KOLCHAK'S  REPLY  39 

make  certain  of  the  political  conviction  with  which 
we  are  inspired  as  legitimate.  I  am  therefore  ready 
to  confirm  once  more  my  previous  declaration,  which 
I  have  always  regarded  as  irrevocable. 


The  Constituent  Assembly 

(i)  On  November  18,  1918,  I  assumed  power,  and 
I  shall  not  retain  that  power  one  day  longer  than  is 
required  by  the  interests  of  the  country.  My  first 
thought  at  the  moment  when  the  Bolsheviks  are 
definitely  crushed  will  be  to  fix  the  date  for  the 
elections  of  the  Constituent  Assembly.  A  commis- 
sion is  now  at  work  on  direct  preparation  for  them 
on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage.  Considering 
myself  as  responsible  before  that  Constituent  As- 
sembly, I  shall  hand  over  to  it  all  my  powers  in 
order  that  it  may  freely  determine  the  system  of 
government.  I  have,  moreover,  taken  the  oath  to 
do  this  before  the  supreme  Russian  tribunal,  the 
guardian  of  legality.  All  my  efforts  are  aimed  at 
concluding  the  civil  war  as  soon  as  possible  by  crush- 
ing Bolshevism  in  order  to  put  the  Russian  people 
effectively  in  a  position  to  express  its  free-will.  Any 
prolongation  of  this  struggle  would  only  postpone 
the  moment. 

The  government,  however,  does  not  consider  itself 
authorized  to  substitute  for  the  inalienable  right  of 
free  and  legal  elections  the  mere  reestablishment  of 
the  Assembly  of  1917,  which  was  elected  under  a 
regime  of  Bolshevist  violence,  and  the  majority  of 


40  APPENDIX 

whose  members  are  now  in  the  Sovietist  ranks.  It 
is  to  the  legally  elected  Constituent  Assembly  alone, 
which  my  government  will  do  its  utmost  to  convoke 
promptly,  that  there  will  belong  the  sovereign  rights 
of  deciding  the  problem  of  the  Russian  state  both 
in  the  internal  and  external  affairs  of  the  country. 

(2)  We  gladly  consent  to  discuss  at  once  with  the 
powers  all  international  questions,  and  in  doing  so 
shall  aim  at  the  free  and  peaceful  developments  of 
peoples,  the  limitation  of  armaments,  and  the  meas- 
ures calculated  to  prevent  new  wars,  of  which  the 
League  of  Nations  is  the  highest  expression.     The 
Russian  Government  thinks,  however,  that  it  should 
recall  the  fact  that  the  final  sanction  of  the  decisions 
which  may  be  taken  in  the  name  of  Russia  will  be- 
long to  the  Constituent  Assembly.     Russia  cannot 
now,  and  cannot  in  the  future,  ever  be  anything  but 
a  democratic  state,  where  all  questions  involving 
modifications  of  the  territorial  frontiers  and  of  ex- 
ternal relations  must  be  ratified  by  a  representative 
body  which  is  the  natural  expression  of  the  people's 
sovereignty. 

(3)  Considering  the  creation  of  a  unified  Polish 
state  to  be  one  of  the  chief  of  the  normal  and  just 
consequences  of  the  World  War,   the  government 
thinks  itself  justified  in  confirming  the  independence 
of  Poland  proclaimed  by  the  Provisional  government 
of  1917,  all  the  pledges  and  decrees  of  which  we  have 
accepted.    The  final  solution  of  the  question  of  de- 
limiting the  frontiers  between  Russia  and  Poland 
must,  however,  in  conformity  with  the  principles 


KOLCHAK'S   REPLY  41 

set  forth  above,  be  postponed  till  the  meeting  with 
the  Constituent  Assembly.  We  are  disposed  at 
once  to  recognize  the  de  facto  government  of  Fin- 
land, but  the  final  solution  of  the  Finnish  question 
must  belong  to  the  Constituent  Assembly. 

(4)  We  are  fully  disposed  at  once  to  prepare  for 
the  solution  of  the  questions  concerning  the  fate  of 
the  national  groups  in  Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania, 
and  of  the  Caucasian  and  Trans-Caspian  countries, 
and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  prompt 
settlement  will  be  made,  seeing  that  the  government 
is  assuring,  as  from  the  present  time,  the  autonomy 
of  the  various  nationalities.    It  goes  without  saying 
that  the  limits  and  conditions  of  these  autonomous 
institutions  will  be  settled  separately  as  regards  each 
of  the  nationalities  concerned.     And  even  in  case 
difficulties  should  arise  in  regard  to  the  solution  of 
these  various  questions  the  government  is  ready  to 
have  recourse  to  the  collaboration  and  good  offices 
of  the  League  of  Nations  with  a  view  to  arriving  at 
a  satisfactory  settlement. 

(5)  The  above  principle,  implying  the  ratification 
of  the   agreements   by   the   Constituent  Assembly, 
should  obviously  be  applied  to  the  question  of  Bess- 
arabia. 

(6)  The  Russian  government  once  more  repeats 
its  declaration  of  November  27,  1918,  by  which  it 
accepted  the  burden  of  the  national  debt  of  Russia. 

(7)  As  regards  the  question  of  internal  politics, 
which  can  only  interest  the  powers  in  so  far  as  they 
reflect  the  political  tendencies  of  the  Russian  gov- 


42  APPENDIX 

ernment,  I  make  point  of  repeating  that  there  can- 
not be  a  return  to  the  regime  which  existed  in  Russia 
before  February,  1917.  The  provisional  solution 
which  my  government  has  adopted  in  regard  to  the 
agrarian  question  aims  at  satisfying  the  interest  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  population,  and  is  inspired  by 
the  conviction  that  Russia  can  only  be  flourishing 
and  strong  when  the  millions  of  Russian  peasants 
receive  all  guaranties  for  the  possession  of  the  land. 
Similarly  as  regards  the  regime  to  be  applied  to  the 
liberated  territories,  the  government,  far  from  plac- 
ing obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  free  election  of  local 
assemblies,  municipalities,  and  zemstvos,  regards 
the  activities  of  these  bodies  and  also  the  de- 
velopment of  the  principle  of  self-government  as 
the  necessary  conditions  for  the  reconstruction  of 
the  country,  and  is  already  actually  giving  them 
its  support  and  help  by  all  the  means  at  its 
disposal. 

(8)  Having  set  ourselves  the  task  of  reestablishing 
order  and  justice  and  of  insuring  individual  security 
to  the  persecuted  population  which  is  tired  of  trials 
and  exactions,  the  government  affirms  the  equality 
before  the  law  of  all  classes  and  all  citizens  without 
any  special  privileges.  All  shall  (enjoy?)  without 
distinction  of  origin  or  of  religion  the  protection  of 
the  state  and  of  the  law.  The  government  whose 
head  I  am  is  concentrating  all  the  forces  and  all  the 
resources  at  its  disposal  in  order  to  accomplish  the 
task  which  it  has  set  itself  at  this  decisive  hour.  I 
speak  in  the  name  of  all  national  Russia.  I  am 


NUMBER  OF  TROOPS  IN  SIBERIA  43 

confident  that,  Bolshevism  once  crushed,  satisfactory 
solutions  will  be  found  for  all  questions  which  equally 
concern  all  these  populations  whose  existence  is 
bound  up  with  that  of  Russia. 

(Signed)     KOLCHAK 

III 

Dated  Paris,  June  12,  1919. 

The  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  wish  to  ac- 
knowledge receipt  of  Admiral  Kolchak's  reply  to 
their  note  of  May  26th.  They  welcome  the  tone  of 
that  reply,  which  seems  to  them  to  be  in  substantial 
agreement  with  the  propositions  which  they  had 
made  and  to  contain  satisfactory  assurances  for  the 
freedom,  self-government,  and  peace  of  the  Russian 
people  and  their  neighbors.  They  are,  therefore, 
willing  to  extend  to  Admiral  Kolchak  and  his  asso- 
ciates the  support  set  forth  in  their  original  letter. 

(Signed)     D.  LLOYD  GEORGE, 
WOODROW  WILSON, 
G.  CLEMENCEAU, 
V.  E.  ORLANDO, 
N.  MAKING. 

B.  Number  of  Troops  in  Siberia 

On  September  15,  1919,  Secretary  of  War  Baker 
told  the  Military  Committee  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives that  there  were  at  that  time  60,000  Japa- 
nese troops  in  Siberia,  as  against  8,477  Americans, 
1429  British,  1,400  Italians  and  1,076  French. 


44  APPENDIX 

(Quoted  from  New  York  Times,  Sept.  16,  1919,  by 
Spargo,  p.  250) 

C.  Up  to  the  end  of  1919  Japan  had  expended  on 
the  Siberian  expedition  Yen  300,000,000.  (Yukio 
Ozaki  in  Japan  Chronicle,  Feb.  12,  1920) 


CHAPTER  IV 
FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

"Toru  sao  no  kokoro  nagaku  zo  kogi  yukan 
Ashima  no  obune  sawari  ari  tomo." 

(Making  long  our  heart  like  the  punting  pole,  let  us  row  on, 
Even  though  the  little  boat  finds  many  obstacles  among  the 
reeds.) 

— Emperor  Meiji  Tenno 

IN  the  next  two  chapters  we  shall  study  Japan's 
contact  with  foreign  countries  and  attempt  to  locate 
the  date  when  force  began  to  play  too  large  a  part 
in  Japan's  international  dealings.  We  shall  try  to 
answer  the  question:  When  did  Militarism  show  its 
head  in  Japan? 

One  phase  of  Militarism  is  a  national  policy  of 
expansion  by  military  force.  The  expansion  may  be 
territorial  or  commercial,  and  the  force  may  be  used 
or  threatened.  In  this  sense  Militarism  in  Japan 
dates,  it  seems  to  me,  from  about  1914.  For  sixty 
years  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty  with  Commodore 
Perry  by  the  Shogun  the  foreign  diplomacy  of  Japan 
ranks  in  integrity  and  fairness  with  the  best  of  the 
WTest.  Any  attempt  to  read  back  into  the  past  the 
spirit  of  the  "Twenty-one  Demands"  on  China,  and 
the  confused  policies  in  Siberia  will  do  an  injustice 
to  a  brilliant  nation  struggling  in  narrow  limits  with 

45 


46  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

poverty  and  meager  natural  resources.  On  the  other 
hand  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  to  realize 
that  for  several  years  their  government,  slow  to  dis- 
cern the  growing  world  hatred  of  Militarism,  has  been 
backing  the  wrong  horse,  will  result  some  day  in  a 
disastrous  and  unnecessary  setback  to  her  just  and 
legitimate  progress. 

The  first  white  men  to  land  on  the  soil  of  the  island 
realm  were  Portuguese  under  Mendez  Pinto.  Bring- 
ing guns,  powder,  cotton  and  tobacco,  they  arrived  in 
1542.  Seven  years  later  Francis  Xavier  and  his 
missionary  band  introduced  Christianity.  For  fifty 
years  the  new  religion  flourished,  until  the  militaristic 
methods  of  the  missionaries  antagonized  Toyotomi 
Hideyoshi.  In  1597  this  "Napoleon  of  Japan"  au- 
thorized a  persecution.  This  decision  resulted  from 
a  casual  remark  by  an  obscure  Spaniard.  A  richly 
laden  galleon  from  Manila  bound  for  South  America 
had  been  wrecked  and  seized  by  Japanese  officers. 
The  pilot,  wishing  to  save  his  vessel,  showed  his 
captors  a  map  of  the  world  and  the  vast  extent  of 
the  Spanish  possessions.  In  answering  the  question 
how  these  wide  domains  were  obtained  he  made  the 
historic  reply:  "Our  kings  begin  by  sending  into  the 
countries  they  wish  to  conquer  missionaries  who 
induce  the  people  to  embrace  our  religion,  and  when 
they  have  made  considerable  progress,  troops  are 
sent  to  combine  with  the  new  Christians,  and  then 
our  kings  have  not  much  trouble  in  accomplishing 
the  rest."  (Quoted  in  Putnam  Weale:  The  Truth 
about  China  and  Japan,  p.  25) 


EARLY  FOREIGN  INTERCOURSE      47 

In  1600  Dutch  traders  came  bringing  with  them 
the  English  pilot,  Will  Adams.  His  knowledge  of 
ship  building  won  him  such  favor  that  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in  Japan. 

For  a  time  the  profits  from  foreign  trade  overcame 
the  hatred  of  the  Christians.  leyasu,  the  founder  of 
the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  even  sent  an  emissary 
to  Europe  to  observe  the  conduct  of  Christians  in 
their  own  country.  But  the  report  of  inquisitions 
and  religious  strife,  the  fear  that  behind  the  mis- 
sionaries were  the  guns  of  Spain  and  the  suspicions 
which  developed  locally  led  the  Shogun  in  1614  to 
publish  an  edict  banishing  the  foreign  priests.  By 
1640  practically  all  foreigners  had  been  driven  out. 
Only  on  Deshima,  a  small  island  in  Nagasaki  harbor, 
did  a  few  Dutch  traders  remain.  For  two  hundred 
years,  except  for  this  one  small  aperture,  Japan  re- 
mained absolutely  sealed  against  the  influences  of 
the  West. 

Three  shocks  awoke  the  self-centered  foreigner- 
hating  little  Empire: 

i.  The  ready  guns  on  Commodore  Perry's  ten 
American  ships  as  they  steamed  into  Yokohama  in 
February,  1854,  demanding  an  answer  to  his  request 
for  a  treaty  made  the  previous  fall.  The  whaling 
industry  in  Russian  and  Alaskan  waters  had  at- 
tracted thousands  of  American  seamen.  In  one 
year  as  many  as  eighty-six  of  these  whaling  vessels 
passed  within  sight  of  Japan's  shores.  Some  had 
been  wrecked  and  the  sailors  mistreated.  The  Amer- 
ican government  demanded  that  protection  for  her 


48  FOREIGN   DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

citizens  should  be  guaranteed  by  treaty.  The  pres- 
ence of  an  American  fleet  manned  by  2,000  sailors 
threw  the  Empire  into  a  panic.  Orders  were  given 
that  at  the  seven  principal  shrines  and  all  the  great 
temples  "prayers  should  be  offered  for  the  safety 
of  the  land  and  for  the  destruction  of  the  aliens." 
The  anti-foreign  party  finally  yielded  and  the  treaty 
was  signed.  Writing  of  the  peaceful  manner  of  these 
negotiations,  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams,  Perry's  secre- 
tary, says:  "Not  a  shot  has  been  fired,  not  a  man 
wounded,  not  a  piece  of  property  destroyed,  not  a 
boat  sunk,  or  a  single  Japanese  who  is  worse  off,  so 
far  as  we  know,  for  the  visit  of  the  American  ex- 
pedition." (Life  and  Letters  of  Samuel  Wells  Wil- 
liams, by  his  son,  New  York  and  London,  1889) 

2.  The  bombardment  of  Kagoshima  in  1861   by 
the  British.     An  Englishman  had  been  killed  near 
Yokohama  by  an  attendant  of  the  Prince  of  Satsuma 
for  a  supposed  insult  to  the  dignity  of  the  feudal 
lord.    An  indemnity  was  demanded.    As  it  was  re- 
fused, the  forts  of  Kogoshima,  the  Satsuma  strong- 
hold in  South  Japan,  were  razed  and  the  indemnity 
increased  threefold. 

3.  The   bombardment   of  Shimonoseki   in    1864. 
The  two  influential  clans  of  Japan  were  Satsuma  and 
Choshu.    The  Satsuma  men  had  learned  their  lesson 
at  Kagoshima.    At  Shimonoseki  the  Choshu  leaders 
were  to  learn  theirs.    From  their  forts  they  had  re- 
peatedly fired  upon  foreign  vessels  as  they  steamed 
through  the  straits.     In  1864  a  combined  squadron 
of  British,  French,  Dutch  and  American  warships 


AROUSED  BY  WESTERN  NAVIES  49 

silenced  the  forts,  spiked  every  gun  and  demanded 
an  indemnity  of  $3,000,000.  This  the  Shogun  paid. 

These  three  exhibitions  of  the  military  power  of 
the  western  nations  stirred  Japan.  The  secrets  of 
the  West  must  be  unearthed.  Foreign  books  and 
teachers  were  introduced  and  students  were  sent 
abroad.  In  1871  the  famous  Iwakura  mission  of 
fifty  men,  including  the  late  Prince  I  to,  travelled  to 
the  United  States  and  Europe  to  collect  information 
concerning  European  institutions  and  methods  of 
government.  By  a  rapid  imitation  and  adaptation 
of  the  science  and  diplomacy  of  the  West,  Japan  has 
jumped  from  calm,  ignorant  isolation,  typified  by 
the  great  Kamakura  meditating  Buddha,  to  an 
educated,  restless  powerful  nation  quick  to  hear 
every  tap  on  the  wires  of  the  world. 

How  did  she  win  her  way?  With  foreign  coun- 
tries, by  two  wars — with  China  in  1894  and  with 
Russia  ten  years  later.  It  is  a  curious  fact  also  that 
in  just  exactly  another  decade  she  was  fighting  Ger- 
many at  Tsingtau;  so  that  Japanese  say  they  have 
a  war  every  ten  years. 

If  ever  wars  were  fought  in  self  defense  the  wars 
with  China  and  Russia  come  under  that  category. 

CHINA-JAPAN  WAR 

The  roots  of  the  war  of  1894-5  go  back  more  than 
ten  years  to  the  intrigues  of  T'ai  Wen  Kun  the  Re- 
gent of  the  young  Korean  King.  He  was  an  anti- 
foreign  trouble  monger.  When  his  son  made  a 


So  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

treaty  with  Japan  he  instigated  an  attack  on  the 
Japanese  Legation.  The  Mikado  sent  troops  and 
demanded  reparation,  and  China  as  the  suzerain 
power  also  sent  her  troops.  These  remained  in  Seoul 
two  years.  Finally  Li  Hung  Chang  invited  the 
bothersome  Kun  to  a  dinner  on  board  a  Chinese 
man-of-war  and  kidnapped  the  man,  sailing  away 
with  him  to  China.  But  Kun  was  soon  back  and 
stirred  up  a  revolution  against  his  pro-foreign  son, 
the  King.  Japan  and  China  intervened  again.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  Li  Hung  Chang  and  Count  Ito 
made  the  treaty  which,  broken  by  China  in  1894,  led 
to  the  war  with  Japan.  The  treaty  was  concluded 
at  Tientsin  on  April  18,  1885.  It  was  agreed  that 
the  two  contracting  Powers  should  withdraw  their 
troops  from  Korea  within  four  months;  and  that 
"in  case  of  any  disturbance  of  a  grave  nature  occur- 
ring in  Korea  which  might  necessitate  the  respective 
countries  or  either  of  them  sending  troops  to  Korea, 
it  is  understood  that  each  shall  give  notice  in  writing 
of  its  intention  to  do  so,  and  that  ^.fter  the  matter  is 
settled  they  shall  withdraw  their  troops." 

For  the  next  ten  years  Japan  endeavored  to  reform 
Korea  and  to  keep  her  an  independent  state.  China 
opposed  the  reforms  and  tried  to  keep  Korea  under 
her  thumb.  Finally  in  May,  1894,  the  "Tong-haks," 
the  predecessors  of  the  "Tendokyo"  leaders  in  the 
recent  anti-Japanese  demonstrations,  rebelled  against 
the  corrupt  Korean  Court.  The  Chinese  Resident 
Yuan  Shih-K'ai,  thinking  Japan  too  busy  with  her 
own  internal  troubles  to  dispatch  her  soldiers,  urged 


CHINA-JAPAN  WAR  51 

the  Chinese  Premier  Li  Hung  Chang  to  dispatch  a 
force  to  the  peninsula.  Three  thousand  troops  were 
sent.  In  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  1885  Japan 
was  notified  that  China  was  sending  troops  to  protect 
her  "tributary  State."  This  method  of  referring  to 
Korea  was  resented  by  Japan.  She  responded  by 
dispatching  a  mixed  brigade  numbering  8,000,  made 
up  of  infantry,  cavalry  and  artillery.  The  rebellion 
was  quickly  put  down.  The  troops  of  both  China 
and  Japan  should  have  been  promptly  withdrawn. 
But  Japan,  weary  with  the  continued  uprisings  and 
the  wretched  government  of  the  Court,  proposed 
that  China  join  with  her  in  urging  reforms.  China 
curtly  replied  that  no  reforms  would  be  started  until 
after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Japanese  troops  from 
the  peninsula.  The  King  of  Korea  also  requested 
the  Japanese  to  leave,  adding  that  as  the  Chinese 
had  been  invited  to  come  her  troops  might  leave 
when  they  chose.  Russia  too  entered  the  field  and 
emphatically  advised  Japan  to  withdraw.  Again 
Japan  approached  China  proposing  joint  action  in 
the  reforms  and  insisting  on  the  observance  of  the 
treaty  of  Tientsin.  China's  second  curt  refusal 
either  to  join  in  the  reforms  or  withdraw  her  troops 
forced  Japan  to  choose  between  the  permanent  oc- 
cupation of  Korea  by  China  or  war.  The  Japanese 
Minister  presented  an  ultimatum  demanding  that 
the  treaty  of  1885  be  observed.  Yuan  Shih-K'ai, 
underestimating  Japan's  intentions,  refused  to  move. 
The  next  day,  July  23,  1894,  the  war  began. 

The    two   declarations   of  war   make   interesting 


52  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

reading.  China  haughtily  refers  to  her  enemy  as 
Wo  Jen  or  Dwarfs,  and  proclaims  that  Japan  is  a 
breaker  of  treaties  and  "runs  rampant  with  her 
false  and  treacherous  actions,  while  China  has  always 
followed  the  paths  of  philanthropy  and  perfect  jus- 
tice throughout  the  whole  controversy."  The  Japa- 
nese document  is  moderate  in  tone  and  carefully 
worded. 

The  war,  so  unnecessary  for  China,  was  for  Japan 
a  series  of  easy  and  continuous  victories  on  both 
land  and  sea.  On  April  iyth  of  the  following  year 
the  Treaty  of  Shimonoseki  was  signed.  China  ceded 
to  Japan  Formosa,  the  Pescadores  and  the  Liaotung 
promontory,  including  Port  Arthur  and  Dairen. 
She  agreed  to  pay  an  indemnity,  to  open  some  new 
ports  and  to  give  Japan  further  privileges  of  navi- 
gation in  Chinese  rivers. 

During  this  war  Japan  had  240,000  men  engaged, 
besides  61,495  employes  and  100,000  coolies.  The 
cost  of  the  war  was  ¥171,020,000,  which  was  all 
met  by  the  indemnity.  It  was  Japan's  first  modern 
war,  and  it  was  fought  to  keep  China  from  domin- 
ating Korea.  This  review  of  the  negotiations  leading 
to  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  does  not  show  that 
Japan  had  any  other  desire  than  self-protection. 
For  a  little  study  of  the  map  will  show  that  any  coun- 
try dominating  Korea  would  have  a  strangle  hold 
upon  Japan.  After  the  victory  Japan's  demands 
were  the  customary  rewards  of  successful  conflicts 
with  China,  as  the  dealings  of  the  European  nations 
with  the  Celestial  Empire  clearly  prove. 


AFTER  THE  CHINA-JAPAN  WAR  53 

THE  NEXT  TEN  YEARS 

The  ten  years  between  the  China-Japan  War  and 
the  Russo-Japan  War  were  years  of  perpetual  in- 
trigue and  counter-intrigue  on  the  part  of  Russia, 
Germany,  England,  France  and  Japan.  Only  thirty 
years  old  in  modern  diplomacy,  Japan  was  an  eager 
learner  from  the  more  experienced  governments  of 
the  West.  The  acuteness  of  her  statesmen  to  dis- 
cern the  essential  elements  in  the  diplomatic  maze 
of  this  decade  gives  ground  to  hope  that  if  the  nations 
of  the  West  honestly  decide  to  give  up  Militarism 
and  adopt  the  diplomacy  of  open-hearted  friendship 
Japan  will  quickly  fall  in  line  and  be  a  powerful  ex- 
ponent in  the  Far  East  of  the  new  internationalism. 
What  were  the  conditions  she  faced  twenty-five 
years  ago? 

On  April  23,  1895,  just  six  days  after  Japan  signed 
the  peace  treaty  with  China,  the  paw  of  the  Russian 
Bear  fell  heavily  on  the  Island  Empire.  The  fruits 
of  her  first  great  war  were  promptly  snatched  away. 
Backed  by  the  Czar,  the  Kaiser  and  the  President 
of  France,  the  Russian  Minister  in  Tokyo  handed 
to  the  Japanese  Government  the  following  memo- 
randum (condensed): 

"The  Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Czar,  in 
examing  the  conditions  of  peace  which  Japan  has 
imposed  upon  China  finds  that  the  possession  of  the 
peninsula  of  Liaotung  would  be  a  perpetual  obstacle 
to  the  peace  of  the  Far  East.  Consequently  the 
Government  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  my  au- 


54  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

gust  Master,  would  give  a  new  proof  of  its  sincere 
friendship  for  the  Government  of  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  of  Japan  by  advising  it  to  renounce  the 
possession  of  the  Peninsula  of  Liaotung." 

Honeyed  words  concealing  the  Bear's  sharp  claws! 
What  could  Japan  do?  With  a  standing  army  of 
67,000  men  and  a  navy  of  61,000  tons  this  little 
eastern  Empire  was  in  no  condition  to  resist  a  coali- 
tion of  three  of  the  most  powerful  western  states. 
The  statesmen  of  Japan  yielded  the  point  and  re- 
turned the  territory  to  China  in  exchange  for  an  in- 
creased indemnity  of  30,000,000  taels.  The  Meiji 
Tenno,  after  announcing  by  an  edict  the  above  sad 
fact  to  his  people  wrote  the  poem  with  which  this 
chapter  begins,  signifying  that  notwithstanding  the 
difficulties  put  in  their  way  by  the  opposing  countries 
his  people  should  patiently  push  on  amid  all  obstacles. 

Stung  to  activity,  Japan  from  the  following  year, 

1896,  set  on  foot  an  elaborate  naval  and  military 
expansion  which  enabled  her  during  the  war  with 
Russia  eight  years  later  to  put  in  the  field  a  million 
trained  men  and  in  the  spring  of  1905  to  meet  Ad- 
miral Rodjesvensky's  Baltic  squadron  at  Tsushima 
with  a  fleet  of  300,000  tons. 

But  we  are  anticipating.  Shortly  after  Russia's 
warning  to  Japan  the  European  Powers  began  to  do 
exactly  what  they  had  warned  Japan  not  to  do. 
Germany  started  the  ball  rolling.  On  November  I, 

1897,  two  German  Catholic  missionaries  were  killed 
in   the  province  of  Shantung.     This  act  was  com- 
mitted by  ruffians  and  apparently  entirely  against 


DIPLOMATIC  SCRAMBLE  IN  CHINA  55 

the  will  of  the  well-disposed  local  authorities.  Al- 
most as  if  the  stage  was  set  these  murders  were  made 
the  pretext  by  Germany  for  the  capture  of  Tsingtau 
on  November  I4th  and  the  firm  establishment  of  her 
control  over  railways,  mines  and  the  resources  of  a 
large  part  of  this  rich  province  of  36,000,000  people. 
The  treaty  was  signed  the  following  spring.  (The 
treaty  in  full  can  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  this 
chapter.) 

On  March  28,  1898,  just  twenty-two  days  after 
Germany's  treaty  was  signed,  a  Russian  squadron 
steamed  into  Port  Arthur  and  China  handed  over 
to  the  Czar  all  he  had  robbed  Japan  of  two  years 
before.  Imagine  the  feelings  of  the  Japanese! 

England  joining  in  the  diplomatic  scramble,  took 
Wei  Hai  Wei,  the  naval  port  to  the  north  of  Tsingtau, 
with  a  ten  mile  strip  around  the  bay.  Japan's  emo- 
tions can  easily  be  imagined.  Wei  Hai  Wei  had 
been  held  by  her  soldiers  pending  the  payment  from 
China  of  the  indemnity.  As  her  troops  sailed  out 
the  British  fleet  sailed  in.  England  also  extracted 
the  promise  that  the  Chinese  Government  would  not 
lease  or  cede  to  another  Power  any  part  of  the  vast 
Yangtse  Valley  with  its  population  of  200,000,000 
people,  and  strengthened  her  position  in  Hongkong 
by  taking  possession  of  200  square  miles  on  the 
nearby  mainland.  To  France  a  similar  assurance 
safeguarded  her  interests  in  Tonking.  She  also  ex- 
torted on  April  loth  a  concession  for  a  twenty-five 
year  lease  of  Kwang-Chow  Bay  south  of  Canton. 
Concerning  the  French  possessions  in  South  China 


56  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

recent  books  on  the  Far  East  say  scarcely  a  word. 
It  will  be  well,  however,  to  remember  that  France 
controls  in  Indo-China  310,000  square  miles,  an  area 
one-half  greater  than  the  homeland  in  Europe.  This 
territory  with  a  population  of  17,000,000  natives 
and  13,000  French  was  taken  in  a  series  of  aggressive 
wars  dating  from  1787.  The  five  provinces  were 
finally  annexed  as  follows:  Cochin-China  with  the 
port  of  Saigon,  from  which  nearly  a  million  tons  of 
rice  are  exported  annually,  was  taken  from  China  in 
1863.  The  following  year  the  protectorate  over 
Cambodia  was  transferred  from  Siam  to  the  French. 
Annam,  Tongking,  and  the  mountainous  Laos  were 
forcibly  annexed,  part  from  China  and  part  from 
Siam,  until  by  1885  the  conquest  was  cemented  by 
the  treaty  signed  with  Li  Hung  Chang  at  Tientsin. 
Kwang-Chow  Bay  was  finally  added  in  1 898.  (Archi- 
bald Little,  The  Far  East,  pp.  219-242;  Indo  China 
in  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  and  World  Almanac) 
We  Americans  must  also  remember  that  it  was  at 
this  time  that  the  United  States  took  the  Philippines 
from  Spain.  This  was  the  world  Japan  faced  as 
Russia's  big  hulk  rose  on  the  horizon. 

THE  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR 

As  far  back  as  1891  Japan  had  learned  with  some 
alarm  of  the  plan  of  the  Czar's  Government  to  con- 
struct a  railway  through  Siberia  to  the  Pacific.  The 
plan  was  to  occupy  ten  years.  Russia  then  pro- 
ceeded (i)  to  get  permission  from  China  to  build  the 


BEFORE  THE  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR          57 

road  across  Manchuria  via  Harbin  to  Vladivostok; 
(2)  in  1898  to  take  the  Liaotung  Peninsula  including 
Port  Arthur  and  Dairen;  (3)  to  extract  from  China 
the  right  to  connect  Harbin  by  rail  with  these  south- 
ern ports;  (4)  to  build  the  Port  Arthur  fortress  and 
place  there  a  garrison  of  20,000  men.  All  these  moves, 
especially  the  taking  from  China  of  the  rights  sur- 
rendered by  Japan  less  than  three  years  before,  pro- 
duced the  wildest  excitement  and  anger  in  Japan. 

The  Boxer  uprising  of  June  20  to  August  14,  1900, 
was  seized  upon  by  Russia  to  pour  into  Manchuria 
hordes  of  troops  ostensibly  to  guard  her  road.  Russia 
further  strengthened  her  hold  by  getting  China  to 
agree  that  without  Russia's  consent  the  ports  on  the 
coast  of  the  Liaotung  peninsula  should  not  be  open 
to  the  commerce  of  other  Powers,  and  that  without 
the  consent  of  Russia  no  railway  or  mining  conces- 
sion should  be  accorded  in  the  same  territory.  (In 
these  treaties  one  sees  where  Japan  learned  how  to 
make  her  "Twenty-one  Demands.") 

In  1899  Russia  cleverly  extracted  an  agreement 
from  London  that  England  would  not  interfere  with 
Russia's  railway  schemes  north  of  the  Great  Wall, 
in  return  for  a  similar  guarantee  by  Russia  regarding 
England's  sphere  south  of  the  Wall.  Thus,  in  Rus- 
sian ambitions  in  Manchuria  and  Korea,  friction 
with  Britain  was  put  out  of  consideration. 

In  the  same  year  Russia  asked  Seoul  for  the  port 
of  Masampo  on  the  south-eastern  coast  of  Korea. 
The  possession  of  this  port,  within  actual  sight  of 
the  islands  off  the  coast  of  Japan,  by  any  country 


58  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

other  than  Korea  would  menace  the  very  existence 
of  Japan  as  an  independent  state.  A  vigorous  pro- 
test against  this  intrigue  prevented  Russia  from 
carrying  her  point.  But  in  these  negotiations  Japan 
saw  the  tracks  of  the  Bear  not  only  on  the  vast  fer- 
tile plains  of  Manchuria,  but  clearly  over  the  line 
in  Korea. 

Then  Japan  showed  her  hand.  On  January  30, 
1902,  came  the  astonishing  announcement  of  the 
Anglo-Japanese  Alliance.  By  this  treaty  each  of  the 
contracting  parties  agreed  to  remain  neutral  and  to 
try  to  keep  other  countries  neutral  in  case  one  of  the 
parties  was  involved  in  war;  and  if  a  third  party 
joined  the  enemy  the  other  contracting  party  would 
come  to  the  rescue.  This  greatly  strengthened  Japan. 
For  the  first  time  in  history  an  eastern  state  had 
been  admitted  into  a  confederacy  with  a  European 
power  on  terms  of  complete  equality. 

Soon  after  this  began  the  direct  movements  of 
Russia  which  led  to  the  attack  by  the  Japanese  fleet 
two  years  later.  The  Emperor  of  Korea  had  granted 
to  a  Russian  lumber  company  the  right  to  fell  timber 
on  the  Korean  side  of  the  Yalu  River.  Work  actu- 
ally began  in  April,  1903.  This  seemingly  innocent 
commercial  proposition  was  being  turned  into  license 
to  erect  fortified  stations  in  Korean  territory.  Against 
this  aggression  Japan  protested  promptly  and  vigor- 
ously. She  saw  that  if  Russia  was  ever  to  be  checked 
now  was  the  time. 

For  a  while  it  looked  as  if  Japan  without  a  war 
might  turn  Russia  back. 


ULTIMATUM  TO  RUSSIA  59 

The  Anglo-Japanese  Alliance  had  strengthened 
the  peace  party  at  Petrograd  so  that  in  April,  1902, 
China  obtained  Russia's  consent  to  withdraw  her 
troops  from  Manchuria.  But  early  in  1903  the 
transportation  was  stopped,  the  aggressive  party  in 
Russia  again  became  dominant  and  Russian  soldiers 
began  to  swarm  back  again. 

Japan  now  decided  to  intervene.  In  July,  1903, 
she  asked  Russia  to  open  negotiations  on  the  Man- 
churian  and  Korean  questions.  Russia,  relieved  to 
see  that  notwithstanding  the  alliance  with  England 
Japan  was  acting  alone,  agreed  to  the  conversations. 
But  her  attitude  of  aggressiveness  was  such  that  no 
real  progress  resulted  and  on  January  13,  1904,  Japan 
made  her  fourth  and  last  statement. 

Throughout  the  negotiations  with  Russia  Japan 
had  held  out  for  the  territorial  integrity  of  China 
and  Korea  and  the  preservation  of  the  open  door 
in  both  countries;  she  also  demanded  that  the  special 
interests  of  Russia  in  Manchuria  and  Japan  in  Korea 
should  be  recognized.  Japan  was  even  ready  to  ac- 
knowledge Russia's  right  to  control  a  strip  of  terri- 
tory thirty  miles  wide  on  each  side  of  the  railway 
line  in  Manchuria  as  well  as  the  town  of  Harbin. 
But  Japan  did  insist  that  Russia  keep  out  of  Korea. 
Here  was  the  rock  on  which  the  negotiations  split. 
Russia  demanded  Manchuria  for  herself  but  would 
yield  Japan  no  similar  rights  in  Korea.  Japan  was 
now  facing  the  same  problem  with  Russia  which  she 
had  fought  out  with  China  ten  years  before.  She 
realized  that  the  country  which  held  the  Korea, 


6o  FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY  TO  1914 

"causeway  to  Asia,"  would  point  "a  dagger  at 
Japan's  throat." 

On  February  5th  Mr.  Kurino's  report  from  the 
Japanese  Embassy  at  St.  Petersburg  made  plain  that 
diplomacy  had  exhausted  itself.  Four  days  later, 
in  the  darkest  hours  of  the  early  morning  a  torpedo 
attack  was  made  on  the  main  Russian  fleet  at  anchor 
outside  Port  Arthur  harbor.  Four  of  the  most  mod- 
ern Russian  battleships  and  a  first-class  cruiser  were 
disabled.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  two 
more  warships  were  attacked  and  destroyed  in  the 
harbor  of  Chemulpo,  Korea. 

On  land  troops  were  poured  across  the  straits  into 
Korea  and  Liaotung,  Japan  continuing  a  series  of 
successful  fights  until  she  won  the  great  fourteen 
days'  battle  of  Mukden  (March  1-14,  1905).  This 
was  followed  on  May  2oth  by  the  naval  battle  of 
Tsushima  in  which  Admiral  Togo  met  and  totally 
destroyed  the  great  Baltic  Squadron.  This  ended 
Russia's  power  on  the  sea.  While  Russia  was  still 
formidable  on  land,  both  sides  were  feeling  the  strain 
in  men  and  money.  They  therefore  gave  ear  to  the 
offer  of  mediation  made  by  President  Roosevelt,  and 
after  protracted  negotiations  concluded  the  treaty  of 
Portsmouth  on  August  29,  1905. 

At  a  cost  of  135,000  lives  and  $800,000,000  (the 
national  debt  increased  from  Yen  561,569,000  in 
1904  to  Yen  2,217,722,000  in  1907)  Japan  had  driven 
Russia  entirely  from  Korea,  had  won  from  Russia 
all  her  leasehold  rights  on  the  Liaotung  Peninsula, 
including  Dairen  and  the  fortress  of  Port  Arthur, 


END  OF  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR  61 

and  had  possession  of  the  South  Manchurian  Rail- 
road, 437  miles  long  from  Dairen  to  Changchun,  150 
miles  south  of  Harbin.  She  also  received  the  south- 
ern half  of  the  dreary  island  of  Saghalin  which  Russia 
had  taken  from  Japan  30  years  before. 

"To  an  amazing  degree,"  says  a  British  writer, 
"those  men  of  the  little  islands  comprehended  in- 
ternational matters  that  were  so  new  to  them.  To 
Europe  the  millions  of  soldiers  the  Czar  was  able  to 
command  were  a  terror  from  which  the  greatest  na- 
tions had  shrunk.  Russia  was  regarded  by  Great 
Britain  as  the  first  menace  to  her  Empire  and  by 
Germany  as  the  menace  to  her  existence.  But  the 
men  of  Japan  who  in  their  youth  had  worn  skirts  and 
quaint  queues,  who  daintily  fanned  themselves  and 
drank  tea  in  thimblefuls  from  delicate  cups  had  gone 
abroad  throughout  the  world  and  had  made  their 
own  estimate  of  other  men,  their  laws,  their  religions, 
and  their  machines,  and  had  determined  that  the 
'Great  Bear*  that  lay  across  Europe  and  Asia  was 
a  colossus  with  feet  of  clay." 

Although  Baron  Komura  was  unable  to  extract 
an  indemnity  from  the  big  Count  Witte  at  the  Ports- 
mouth Conference,  and  in  consequence  the  material 
gains  of  the  war  seemed  relatively  so  small,  the 
moral  gains  for  Japan  were  inestimable.  For  the 
first  time  in  modern  history  an  Asiatic  had  success- 
fully faced  a  European  nation.  This  placed  Japan 
among  the  world  powers  and  was  the  beginning  of 
that  rapid  modern  development  which  gave  Japan 
a  chair  at  the  Peace  Table  in  Paris. 


62  APPENDIX 

APPENDIX 

Text  of  the  Shantung  Treaty  of  March  6, 
(From  The  Nation,  Sept.  20,  1919) 
English  Translation 

The  incident  at  the  mission-station  in  the  prefec- 
ture of  Tsaochoufu  in  Shantung  having  now  been 
settled  by  amicable  agreement,  the  Imperial  Chinese 
Government  regards  the  occasion  as  a  suitable  one 
for  giving  a  special  and  concrete  proof  of  its  grateful 
recognition  of  the  friendship  which  has  hitherto  at 
all  times  been  manifested  by  Germany  towards  China. 
In  consequence,  the  Imperial  German  Government 
and  the  Imperial  Chinese  Government,  inspired  by 
the  mutual  and  reciprocal  desire  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  friendship  between  their  two  countries  and 
farther  to  develop  the  economic  and  trade  relations 
of  the  citizens  of  the  two  states  respectively  with 
each  other,  have  concluded  the  following  Special 
Convention: 

PART  I. — LEASING-ARRANGEMENTS  CONCERNING 
KIAOCHOW 

Article  I 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China,  in  pursuance 
of  the  object  of  strengthening  the  friendly  relations 
between  China  and  Germany,  and  increasing  the 
military  preparedness  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  gives 
his  promise — while  he  reserves  to  himself  all  rights 


GERMAN  TREATY  ON  SHANTUNG  63 

of  sovereignty  in  a  zone  fifty  kilometres  (one  hundred 
Chinese  li)  in  width  surrounding  the  line  of  high- 
water  mark  of  Kiaochow  Bay — to  permit  within  this 
zone  the  free  passage  of  German  troops  at  all  times, 
and  also  to  make  no  decree  concerning  measures  of 
policy  or  administration  affecting  this  zone  without 
the  previous  assent  of  the  German  Government;  and 
especially  not  to  interpose  any  hindrance  to  any 
regulation  of  the  water-courses  which  at  any  time 
may  become  necessary.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor 
of  China  hereby  reserves  to  himself  the  right,  in 
friendly  understanding  with  the  German  Govern- 
ment, to  station  troops  in  the  zone  above  mentioned, 
and  also  to  decree  other  military  administrative 
measures. 

Article  II 

With  the  object  of  fulfilling  the  justifiable  wish 
of  the  German  Emperor,  that  Germany,  like  other 
Powers,  may  have  a  place  on  the  Chinese  coast  under 
its  own  jurisdiction,  for  the  repair  and  fitting  out 
of  its  ships,  for  the  storing  of  materials  and  supplies 
for  the  same,  and  also  for  the  establishment  of  other 
appliances  connected  therewith,  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  of  China  concedes  to  Germany,  by  way  of 
lease,  provisionally  for  ninety-nine  years,  both  sides 
of  the  entrance  to  Kiaochow  Bay.  Germany  under- 
takes to  carry  through  to  completion,  upon  the 
territory  conceded  to  it,  the  fortifications  for  the 
protection  of  the  buildings  and  establishments  and 
for  the  defence  of  the  entrance  of  the  harbor. 


64  APPENDIX 

Article  III 

In  order  to  prevent  any  possibility  of  conflicts 
arising,  the  Imperial  Chinese  Government  will  not, 
during  the  term  of  the  lease,  exercise  rights  of  sov- 
ereignty, but  concedes  the  exercise  of  the  same  to 
Germany,  over  the  following  explicitly  defined 
territory: 

1.  On  the  northerly  side  of  the  entrance  of 
the  bay:  The  tongue  of  land  bounded  on  its 
northeasterly   side   by   a  line  drawn   from   the 
northeasterly  corner  of  Potato  Island  to  Loshan 
Harbor. 

2.  On  the  southerly  side  of  the  entrance  of 
the  bay:  The  tongue  of  land  bounded  on  its 
southwesterly  side  by  a  line  drawn  from  the 
southwesterly  point  of  the  inlet  situated  south- 
westward  of  Chiposan  Island  in  a  straight  line 
to  Tolosan  Island. 

3.  The  Chiposan  Islands  and  Potato  Island. 

4.  The  whole  expanse  of  water  of  the  bay  up 
to  the  highest  water-mark  as  it  is  at  this  time. 

5.  All  the  islands  which  front  upon  Kiaochow 
Bay,  and  which  require  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration for  the  defence  of  the  bay  from  the 
side    towards    the   sea,    namely,    for   example, 
Tolosan,  Tschalientau,  etc. 

The  high  contracting  parties  bind  themselves  to 
have  planned  out  and  established  an  exact  fixation 
of  the  boundaries  of  this  territory  leased  to  Germany 


SHANTUNG  TREATY  65 

and  also  of  the  fifty-kilometre  zone  around  the  bay; 
this  to  be  done  by  commissioners  appointed  by  both 
parties  respectively  and  in  a  manner  adapted  to  the 
local  circumstances. 

Chinese  war-ships  and  merchant-ships  shall  par- 
ticipate in  all  privileges  in  Kiaochow  Bay  on  the 
same  basis  with  the  other  nations  which  are  on 
friendly  terms  with  Germany,  and  the  entrance  and 
departure,  as  well  as  the  sojourn  of  Chinese  ships 
in  the  bay,  shall  be  subjected  to  no  other  limitations 
than  those  which  the  Imperial  German  Government, 
by  authority  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  extent  of  the  bay  ancillary  to  its  landrights 
and  hereby  conceded  to  it,  may,  at  any  time,  by 
public  decree,  declare  to  be  prohibitions  applicable 
to  the  ships  of  other  nations. 

Article  IV 

Germany  obligates  itself  to  erect  the  necessary 
guides  and  signals  for  navigation  on  the  islands  and 
shoals  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  the  bay. 

No  imports  shall  be  collected  from  Chinese  war- 
ships or  merchant-ships  in  Kiaochow  Bay  except 
those  to  which  other  ships  are  subjected,  for  the 
purpose  of  the  upkeep  of  the  necessary  harbor  and 
wharf  establishments. 

Article  V 

In  case  Germany  should  hereafter  at  any  time 
express  the  wish  to  give  back  Kiaochow  Bay  to  China 


66  APPENDIX 

before  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  the  lease,  China 
obligates  itself  to  make  good  the  expenditures  which 
Germany  shall  have  made  in  Kiaochow,  and  to  con- 
cede to  Germany  a  better  place  to  be  under  Ger- 
many's own  jurisdiction. 

Germany  obligates  itself  never  to  give  any  kind 
of  leasehold  right  to  any  other  power. 

The  Chinese  people  residing  in  the  leased  territory, 
assuming  that  they  demean  themselves  in  conformity 
with  the  laws  and  the  public  order,  shall  participate 
at  all  times  in  the  protection  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment. So  far  as  their  lands  are  not  included  in  plans 
for  public  improvements,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to 
remain  upon  them. 

If  parcels  of  real  estate  owned  by  Chinese  shall 
be  included  in  plans  for  public  improvements,  the 
owner  shall  be  indemnified  for  them. 

As  respects  the  reorganization  of  the  Chinese  cus- 
toms stations  which,  as  formerly  situated,  were  out- 
side the  leased  territory  of  Germany,  but  within  the 
community-zone  of  fifty  kilometres,  the  Imperial 
German  Government  intends  to  enter  into  an  amic- 
able understanding  with  the  Chinese  Government 
in  regard  to  the  determinate  regulation  of  the  cus- 
toms boundary  and  the  collection  of  customs,  in  a 
manner  which  will  protect  all  the  interests  of  China; 
and  it  binds  itself  to  enter  into  further  negotiations 
on  this  subject. 


SHANTUNG  TREATY  67 

PART  II. — RAILROAD  AND  MINING  CONCESSIONS 
Article  I 

The  Imperial  Chinese  Government  grants  to  Ger- 
many the  concession  for  the  following  lines  of  railroad 
in  the  Province  of  Shantung: 

1.  From    Kiaochow    by    way    of  Weihsien, 
Chingchou,  Poshan,  Tzechuan,  and  Tsouping 
to  Tsinanfu  and  from  thence  in  a  straight  line 
to  the  boundary  of  Shantung; 

2.  From    Kiaochow    to    Ichoufu    and    from 
thence  onwards  through  Laiwuhsien  to  Tsinanfu. 

It  is  understood  that  the  building  of  the  section 
from  Tsinanfu  to  the  boundary  of  Shantung  shall 
not  be  entered  upon  until  after  the  completion  of 
the  road  to  Tsinanfu,  in  order  that  an  opportunity 
may  be  given  for  considering  the  connection  of  this 
line  with  the  line  to  be  built  by  China  itself.  The 
special  agreement  to  be  made  after  consultation,  in 
regard  to  the  details  of  all  the  undertakings,  shall 
determine  the  route  for  this  last  section. 

Article  II 

For  the  building  of  the  above-named  lines  of 
railroad,  one  or  more  German-Chinese  railroad  com- 
panies shall  be  formed.  German  and  Chinese  mer- 
chants shall  be  at  liberty  to  contribute  capital  there- 
for, and  on  both  sides  there  shall  be  named  trust- 
worthy officials  to  supervise  these  undertakings. 


68  APPENDIX 

Article  III 

For  the  regulation  of  the  details  a  special  agree- 
ment will  be  drawn  up  by  the  high  contracting  par- 
ties. China  and  Germany  will  regulate  the  matter 
for  themselves:  nevertheless  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment hereby  obligates  itself  to  the  German-Chinese 
railroad  companies  which  are  to  build  the  railroads, 
to  concede  fair  terms  for  the  building  and  operation 
of  the  designated  railroads,  so  that  in  all  economic 
questions  they  shall  not  be  placed  in  a  worse  posi- 
tion than  other  Chinese-European  companies  else- 
where in  the  Chinese  Empire.  This  provision  has 
reference  only  to  economic  matters.  No  part  what- 
soever of  the  Province  of  Shantung  can  be  annexed 
or  occupied  by  the  building  of  the  railroad  lines. 

Article  IV 

Along  the  railroads  above  named  within  a  space 
of  thirty  li  from  the  lines,  especially  in  Poshan  and 
Weihsien  on  the  Kiaochow-Tsinanfu  line,  and  also 
in  Ichoufu,  and  Laiwuhsien  on  the  Kiaochow- 
Ichoufu-Tsinanfu  line,  it  shall  be  permissible  for 
German  contractors  to  work  the  coal-beds,  and 
carry  on  other  undertakings,  and  also  to  carry  into 
execution  the  plans  for  necessary  public  works.  As 
respects  these  undertakings  German  and  Chinese 
merchants  shall  be  at  liberty  to  associate  themselves 
in  the  furnishing  of  the  capital.  As  in  the  case  of 
the  railroad  concessions,  so  also  as  respects  the  work- 
ing of  mines,  appropriate  special  arrangements  will 


SHANTUNG  TREATY  69 

be  agreed  upon  after  mutual  consultation.  The 
Chinese  Government  hereby  promises  to  concede 
to  the  German  merchants  and  engineers  fair  terms 
in  all  respects,  in  harmony  with  the  arrangements 
above  mentioned  undertaken  by  it  in  reference  to 
railroads,  so  that  the  German  contractors  shall  not 
be  placed  in  a  worse  position  than  other  Chinese- 
European  companies  elsewhere  in  the  Chinese  Em- 
pire. Moreover,  this  provision  has  reference  only 
to  economic  matters,  and  has  no  other  meaning. 

PART  III. — PRIORITY  RIGHTS  IN  THE  PROVINCE  OF 
SHANTUNG 

The  Imperial  Chinese  Government  obligates  it- 
self, in  all  cases  in  which  for  any  purposes  whatsoever 
within  the  Province  of  Shantung  the  asking  of  for- 
eign aid  in  persons,  capital  or  material  shall  be  under 
consideration,  to  tender  the  public  works  and  the 
supplying  of  materials  to  which  the  plans  relate, 
for  a  first  bid,  to  German  industrial-development- 
engineers  and  material-supply-merchants  who  are 
engaged  in  similar  undertakings. 

In  case  the  German  industrial-development-en- 
gineers and  material-supply-merchants  are  not  in- 
clined to  undertake  the  carrying  out  of  such  works 
or  the  supplying  of  the  materials,  China  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  proceed  in  any  other  manner  at  its  pleasure. 


The  foregoing  arrangement  shall   be  ratified  by 
the  Sovereigns  of  the  two  States  which  are  the  makers 


70  APPENDIX 

of  this  agreement,  and  the  instruments  of  ratifica- 
tion shall  be  so  exchanged  that  upon  the  receipt  in 
Berlin  of  the  instrument  of  ratification  on  the  part 
of  China,  the  instrument  of  ratification  on  the  part 
of  Germany  shall  be  handed  to  the  Chinese  Minister 
in  Berlin. 


The  foregoing  agreement  is  drawn  up  in  four 
originals — two  German  and  two  Chinese:  and  on  the 
sixth  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
ninety-eight,  equivalent  to  the  fourteenth  day  of 
the  second  moon  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  Kuang- 
hsu,  it  was  signed  by  the  representatives  of  the  two 
States  which  are  the  makers  of  the  agreement. 

The  Imperial  German  Minister, 
(Signed)     BARON  VON  HEYKING 

The  Imperial  Chinese  Chief  Secretary, 

Minister  of  the  Tsungli-Yamen,  etc.,  etc., 

(Signed)     Li  HUNG-CHANG 

The  Imperial  Chinese  Chief  Secretary, 
Member  of  the  Council  of  State, 
Minister  of  the  Tsungli-Yamen, 

etc.,  etc., 
(Signed)    WENG  T'uNG-Ho 


CHAPTER  V 
BLUNDERS 

"The  Japanese  nation  is  now  in  a  state  of  isolation." — Yukio 
Ozaki,  former  Minister  of  Justice  (Quoted  in  MillarcTs  Review, 
March  29,  1919) 

UP  to  the  end  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  I  fail 
to  find  any  act  in  Japan's  foreign  diplomacy  which 
in  the  light  of  diplomatic  customs  current  at  the 
time  can  be  severely  criticised.  Considering  the 
example  set  in  the  Far  East  by  Russia,  Germany, 
France,  and  England,  Japan  had  followed  the  only 
course  of  action  which  could  save  her  from  eternal 
impotence.  A  frank  student  can  entertain  only  the 
highest  admiration  for  her  statesmen  and  warriors 
who  led  her  from  the  hermit  nation  of  1863  to  the 
world  power  of  1905.  The  next  ten  years  are  more 
difficult  to  interpret.  But  in  1915  began  that  series 
of  undoubted  diplomatic  blunders  which  have  turned 
such  a  large  part  of  the  world  against  the  Sunrise 
Kingdom. 

While  the  writer  recognizes  that  other  countries 
including  his  own  have  made  egregious  errors  in  in- 
ternational dealings,  while  no  American  or  Briton 
can  take  a  self-righteous  attitude  towards  Japan,  it 
will  clarify  our  efforts  to  interpret  Japan  to  the 
Western  World  and  to  herself  if  we  frankly  face  the 

71 


72  BLUNDERS 

recent  diplomatic  errors  which  have  lost  her  many 
of  her  former  friends  and  increased  the  vehemence 
of  her  enemies. 

Following  the  victory  over  Russia  in  1904-5,  Japan 
spent  the  next  ten  years  consolidating  her  new  posi- 
tion. Having  fought  two  great  wars  to  keep  other 
nations  from  encroaching  on  Korea,  Japan  took 
measures  to  see  that  the  problem  should  never  arise 
again.  Thirteen  days  after  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Russia,  Japan  signed  a  protocol  with  the 
Emperor  of  Korea,  guaranteeing  the  independence 
and  territorial  integrity  of  the  Korean  Empire,  the 
safety  and  repose  of  the  Imperial  House,  and  agree- 
ing that  Korea  should  accept  Japan's  advice  regard- 
ing improvements  in  administration.  Whether 
Japan's  mistakes  began  here  is  a  debatable  question. 
Some  writers  see  her  iron  hand  in  the  convention  of 
November,  1905,  in  which  Korea  was  compelled  to 
turn  over  to  Japan  the  direction  of  her  external 
affairs,  and  in  the  annexation  of  1910.  But  consid- 
ering the  character  of  Korea's  ruling  house,  the  an- 
nexation, it  seems  to  me,  was  inevitable.  From 
years  before  the  China  War  Japanese  statesmen  had 
seen  that  Korea  must  at  least  be  preserved  as  an 
independent  buffer  state.  And  when  in  1907,  not- 
withstanding the  agreement  to  leave  foreign  affairs 
to  Japan,  the  Emperor  secretly  sent  his  representa- 
tives to  the  Hague  Conference,  Japan's  response  was 
sterner  control  and  annexation  three  years  later. 
Critics  of  Japan  should  remember  that  the  visitors 
to  the  Hague  won  no  hearing  and  the  annexation 


FIRST  BLUNDER  73 

called  forth  no  protest  by  any  nation.  Before  cen- 
suring Japan  for  this  act  we  must  first  rebuke  other 
governments  for  their  failure  to  recognise  Korea's 
rights  at  the  Hague  and  to  register  their  disapproval 
of  the  annexation. 

The  use  of  force,  however,  did  later  run  its  course. 
To  quote  a  newspaper  writer,  "In  the  early  years 
of  the  European  war,  before  a  determination  to  end 
war  and  establish  a  league  of  nations  had  become  a 
moral  purpose  of  the  struggle,  Japan  like  some  other 
nations,  regarded  the  conflict  as  an  opportunity  for 
extending  her  power  and  seizing  territory  and  con- 
cessions that  would  become  valuable  to  her.  There 
was  nothing  to  stay  Japan:  the  Great  Powers  of 
Europe  were  all  involved  in  war,  and  the  United 
States  was  regarded  as  determined  to  follow  a  policy 
of  non-interference  in  European  or  Asiatic  affairs. 
To  Count  Okuma's  government,  then  in  power,  the 
situation  appeared  'the  opportunity  of  a  thousand 
years'." 

Within  a  week  after  Great  Britain's  declaration 
of  war  an  ultimatum  was  sent  to  Germany,  and  on 
November  seventh  General  Kamio  received  the 
capitulation  of  the  German  garrison  at  Tsingtau. 
Since  that  day  every  effort  has  been  made  to 
strengthen  her  interests  in  the  Shantung  hinterland. 
Like  a  weather  vane  the  Japanese  Government, 
responsive  to  every  international  breeze,  has  been 
vacillating  between  promises  to  return  to  China  the 
captured  possession,  and  the  gnawing  desire  to  re- 
tain her  hold  on  the  mainland.  Here  was  the  first 


74  BLUNDERS 

mistake.  (Statements  to  this  effect  by  Japanese 
public  men  can  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  Chap- 
ter IX.) 

In  January,  1915,  followed  the  "Twenty-one  De- 
mands," the  second  and  greatest  blunder  ever  made 
by  the  Japanese  Government.  These  demands,  if 
all  had  been  agreed  upon  and  adhered  to,  would 
have  practically  excluded  foreign  capital  other  than 
Japanese  from  Manchuria  and  Eastern  Mongolia,  dis- 
tricts immensely  wealthy  in  natural  resources;  guar- 
anteed to  Japan  all  and  more  than  Germany  possessed 
in  Shantung;  given  Japan  other  numerous  and  in- 
valuable mining  rights;  kept  other  Powers  out  of  cer- 
tain specified  parts  of  China,  and  given  Japan  the 
right  to  locate  her  police  and  allocate  advisers  in 
such  a  way  as  to  endanger  China's  future  independ- 
ent activities.  For  four  months  China  fought  off 
Japan,  until  no  help  arriving  she  succumbed  to  the 
ultimatum.  On  May  9th,  after  Japan  had  con- 
sented to  leave  the  obnoxious  "Fifth  Group"  as 
"Notes  to  be  Exchanged,"  the  agreement  was  signed. 
(The  original  demands  in  full,  and  the  final  agree- 
ment can  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter.) 

Two  days  later,  however,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  with  dignity  but  with  evident  pur- 
pose, stepped  into  the  arena  and  sent  the  following 
identical  note  to  the  two  governments.  The  note 
to  Japan  reads  as  follows: 

"In  view  of  the  circumstances  of  the  negotiations 
which  have  taken  place  and  which  are  now  pending 
between  the  Government  of  Japan  and  the  Govern- 


SECOND  AND  THIRD  75 

ment  of  China  and  of  the  agreements  which  have 
been  reached  as  a  result  thereof,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  has  the  honor  to  notify  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Japanese  Empire  that  it  cannot 
recognize  any  agreement  or  undertaking  which  has 
been  entered  into  or  which  may  be  entered  into  be- 
tween the  Governments  of  Japan  and  China  im- 
pairing the  treaty  rights  of  the  United  States  and 
its  citizens  in  China,  the  political  or  territorial  in- 
tegrity of  the  Republic  of  China,  or  the  International 
policy  relative  to  China  commonly  known  as  the 
Open  Door  policy." 

Blinded  by  ambition  and  not  heeding  America's 
warning,  Japan  encouraged  her  nationals  to  travel 
over  China,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  confused 
condition  incident  to  revolution  and  of  the  cupidity 
of  venal  Chinese  government  officials,  to  take  mort- 
gages and  buy  rights  until  Japan  in  1918  alone  is 
reported  to  have  made  twenty-nine  loans  amounting 
to  Yen  246,000,000.  (B.  L.  Putnam  Weale:  The 
Truth  about  China  and  Japan,  p.  178)  Millard  gives 
a  list  which  makes  the  total  from  August,  1914,  to 
the  end  of  1918  Yen  391,430,000.  (Thomas  F.  Mil- 
lard:  Democracy  and  the  Eastern  Question,  p.  192) 

In  the  summer  of  1918  came  the  third  blunder,  the 
Siberian  expedition,  described  in  a  previous  chapter. 
Losing  a  splendid  opportunity  of  leadership  and  co- 
operation, the  Government,  seemingly  expecting  the 
war  to  continue  one  or  two  years  more,  adopted  in 
Siberia  a  policy  exactly  like  that  toward  China. 
Japan  took  advantage  of  the  preoccupation  of  Europe 


76  BLUNDERS 

and  the  confusion  in  Russia  to  extend  her  interests 
on  the  northern  mainland.  The  sending  of  ten  times 
the  troops  originally  announced,  the  occupation  of  the 
trade  routes  and  the  frantic  efforts  to  get  control  of 
the  Chinese-Eastern  Railroad  are  all  evidences  of  a 
policy  of  aggression  by  military  force.  With  the 
signing  of  the  armistice  on  November  nth  a  real 
change  came.  The  sudden  defeat  of  Prussianism  in 
Europe  dealt  a  great  blow  to  Militarism  in  Japan. 
This  blow,  had  united  counsel  prevailed  in  the  West, 
might  have  been  final.  But  Rome  was  not  built  in 
a  day.  Neither  can  the  15,000  splendid  army  officers 
trained  for  decades  in  the  French  and  German 
schools  of  military  efficiency,  the  brightest  and  keen- 
est single  group  of  men  in  Japan,  be  expected  in  the 
light  of  present  world  conditions,  to  change  their 
thinking  at  once.  The  China  Press  of  Shanghai 
summarizes  the  editor's  impression  of  the  recent 
course  of  diplomacy: 

"Since  August,  1914,  the  issue  has  been  gathering. 
From  the  serving  of  Japan's  ultimatum  on  Germany 
its  development  has  been  in  a  thoroughly  ruthlessly 
logical  sequence  of  events.  The  taking  of  Tsingtau, 
the  widening  of  that  wedge  until  it  included  a  large 
part  of  Shantung,  the  sinister  Twenty-one  Demands, 
the  Japanese  contribution  to  the  undoing  of  Yuan 
Shih-K'ai,  the  steady  encroachments  in  Manchuria, 
the  secret  Russo-Japanese  treaty,  the  blocking  of 
China's  entrance  into  the  war  except  under  the  aegis 
of  Tokyo,  the  underwriting  of  the  corrupt  militaristic 
party  in  the  North,  the  series  of  nefarious  loans  that 


FOURTH  AND  FIFTH  77 

turned  over  the  resources  of  an  Eldorado  for  a  song, 
the  setting  up  of  the  civil  administration  in  Shantung, 
the  Arms  Alliance  of  1918  and  all  the  other  secret 
agreements,  the  Lansing-Ishii  paramount  interest 
agreement — until  now  we  have  the  naked  question, 
'Is  China  a  Japanese  colony?"  (Japan  Advertiser, 
Feb.  13,  1919) 

The  demand  at  Paris  for  the  German  rights  in 
Shantung  was  the  fourth  blunder.  At  the  Peace 
Conference  Japan  missed  a  golden  opportunity  to 
make  what  the  French  call  "a  moral  gesture."  Had 
the  Japanese  delegates  been  instructed  to  ask  for 
nothing  but  an  opportunity  to  serve;  had  they  said, 
"From  this  War  we  have  suffered  little  and  gained 
much.  We  come  here  to  offer  our  services  in  the  re- 
construction of  the  Far  East.  Tell  us  what  to  do" — 
had  Japan  only  taken  this  attitude  sincerely,  she 
would  have  risen  to  a  place  of  peerless  leadership  in 
the  Orient.  Instead  of  this  her  delegates  feverishly 
insisted  that  all  the  German  concessions  in  Shantung 
should  be  turned  over  to  her,  and  that  she  should 
deal  directly  with  China  regarding  their  disposal. 
This  decision,  which  President  Wilson  stated  before 
the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee  was  a 
disappointment  to  him  and  "the  best  that  could  be 
got  in  view  of  the  engagements  (secret  agreements 
with  Japan)  of  Great  Britain  and  France"  (daily 
papers,  Aug.  20, 1919),  was  forced  upon  the  Paris  Con- 
ference by  that  spirit  of  aggression  of  which  we  speak. 

Korea  is  the  fifth  blunder.  The  ten  years'  rule 
of  a  mild  people  by  the  sword — even  teachers  in  the 


78  BLUNDERS 

schools  until  recently  wearing  the  emblem  of  force — 
culminated  in  the  independence  demonstrations  of 
March  and  April,  1919,  and  the  cruel  repressive 
measures. 

All  of  the  above  is  partly  explained  by  the  fact 
that  there  have  been  two  political  forces  in  Japan, 
one  emanating  from  the  Foreign  Office  and  the 
other  from  the  General  Staff.  One  proposes  to 
"develop  the  growing  friendship  between  Japan 
and  China"  (opening  sentence  of  the  "Twenty-one 
Demands")  while  the  other  proceeds  to  force  con- 
cessions backed  up  by  a  standing  army  of  over 
200,000  highly  efficient  soldiers  and  a  fleet  of  650,000 
tons.  One  agrees  to  America's  proposal  to  send 
7,000  troops  to  Vladivostok,  while  the  other  pours 
in  50,000  more  through  Korea  and  Manchuria.  One 
wishes  "to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  Orient,"  while 
the  other  insists  on  repeating  in  Shantung  the  1897 
mistake  of  Germany  which  did  more  than  any  recent 
act  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  East.  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor  in  the  Rescript  of  August  20,  1919, 
aims  "to  promote  the  welfare  of  Korea,  to  extend 
to  the  native  population  impartial  treatment  that 
they  may  lead  their  lives  in  peace  and  contentment," 
while  the  gendarmes  and  soldiers,  according  to  Rev- 
erend Ishizaka,  a  Japanese  pastor  who  visited  Korea, 
are  guilty  "of  barbarous  cruelties  everywhere." 
One  of  the  "Two  Streams"  functions  in  foreign  cap- 
itals through  its  accredited  ministers  and  ambassadors 
while  the  other  carries  on  through  its  military  at- 
taches, who  are  financed  by  the  General  Staff,  and 


DUAL  GOVERNMENT  79 

neither  act  under  the  orders  of  the  local  legation 
nor  report  to  it.  (For  a  further  account  of  this 
"Dual  Government"  see  Chapter  VI,  Appendix  B.) 

These  "Two  Japans"  may  be  a  survival  of  those 
many  centuries  in  which  the  Emperor,  the  legal  and 
titular  sovereign,  remained  in  the  seclusion  of  his 
Kyoto  palace  while  the  Shogun  and  the  military 
nobility  governed  the  country.  In  our  condemna- 
tion of  this  military  party  which,  slow  to  comprehend 
the  world  movement,  has  clearly  for  five  years  or 
more  been  misleading  Japan,  we  must  not  be  blind 
to  their  great  achievements  in  the  past.  Bushido 
(the  Way  of  the  Knight)  and  patriotism  led  Japan 
in  six  decades  from  a  hermit  country  of  little-known 
rocky  islands  to  a  seat  with  the  "Big  Five"  in  the 
Parliament  of  the  World.  Nevertheless  by  working 
the  Samurai  spirit  overtime,  Japan  has  been  swept 
into  Militarism  and  now  stands  without  an  intimate 
friend  in  the  world. 

Every  virtue  if  overworked  leads  to  a  vice.  Tem- 
perance may  lead  to  effeminacy,  frugality  to  stingi- 
ness, self-control  to  pride,  strength  to  aggressiveness, 
virility  to  oppression,  and  even  the  beautiful  passion 
of  love  if  unrestrained  leads  to  prostitution  and  loath- 
some disease.  Bushido,  one  of  the  finest  contributions 
of  old  Japan  to  the  western  world,  must  bear  much  of 
the  odium  of  Japan's  recent  errors.  Swept  out  into 
the  world  where  religion,  democracy,  and  open- 
hearted  friendship,  as  well  as  brain  power  and  mili- 
tary force,  are  factors  in  the  international  game, 
Japan's  leaders  by  an  undue  and  continued  emphasis 


8o  BLUNDERS 

on  the  modern  equivalents  of  Bushido,  science  and 
gunpowder,  have  brought  the  country  to  a  posi- 
tion where  she  will  be  obliged  to  draw  back  her 
forces,  re-organize  her  plans  and  start  on  a  new 
career  of  progress,  substituting  for  guns  the  forces 
of  the  spirit  and  the  heart.  If  Japan  does  not  make 
this  shift  with  some  promptness  she  may  some  day 
be  driven  back  to  her  islands  of  volcanoes  and  sand. 
If  with  her  usual  insight  she  will  read  the  meaning 
of  the  gory  trenches  of  Belgium  and  France,  the 
conference  tables  of  Paris  and  the  restless  dissatis- 
faction with  military  autocracy  the  world  over,  she 
will  adopt  the  diplomacy  of  friendship,  no  longer 
find  herself  isolated,  and  soon  discover  in  the  plains, 
forests  and  mines  of  Asia  and  the  markets  of  the 
world  opportunities  for  a  great  expansion  which 
defies  the  imagination.  Such  is  my  confidence  in 
the  character  and  ability  of  the  Japanese. 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  V 
The  Twenty-one  Demands 

PART! 

Japan  s  Demands  on  China 

The  Original  Twenty-one  Demands,  as  presented 
January  18,  1915 

I 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, being  desirous  of  maintaining  the  general 
peace  in  Eastern  Asia  and  further  strengthening  the 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  81 

friendly  relations  and  good  neighborhood  existing 
between  the  two  nations,  agree  to  the  following 
articles: 

ARTICLE  I.  The  Chinese  government  engages  to 
give  full  assent  to  all  matters  upon  which  the  Japa- 
nese government  may  hereafter  agree  with  the  Ger- 
man government  relating  to  the  disposition  of  all 
rights,  interests,  and  concessions  which  Germany, 
by  virtue  of  treaties  or  otherwise,  possesses  in  re- 
lation to  the  province  of  Shantung. 

ARTICLE  II.  The  Chinese  government  engages 
that  within  the  province  of  Shantung,  and  along  its 
coast,  no  territory  or  island  will  be  ceded  or  leased 
to  a  third  power  under  any  pretext. 

ARTICLE  III.  The  Chinese  government  consents 
to  Japan's  building  a  railway  from  Chefoo  or  Lung- 
kou  to  join  the  Kiaochow-Tsinanfu  Railway. 

ARTICLE  IV.  The  Chinese  government  engages, 
in  the  interest  of  trade  and  for  the  residence  of  for- 
eigners, to  open  by  herself  as  soon  as  possible  certain 
important  cities  and  towns  in  the  province  of  Shan- 
tung as  commercial  ports.  What  places  shall  be 
opened  are  to  be  jointly  decided  upon  in  a  separate 
agreement. 

II 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, since  the  Chinese  government  has  always 
acknowledged  the  special  position  enjoyed  by  Japan 
in  south  Manchuria  and  eastern  inner  Mongolia, 
agree  to  the  following  articles: 


82  APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  I.  The  two  contracting  parties  mutually 
agree  that  the  term  of  lease  of  Port  Arthur  and 
Dalny  and  the  term  of  lease  of  the  South  Man- 
churian  Railway  and  the  Antung-Mukden  Rail- 
way shall  be  extended  to  the  period  of  ninety-nine 
years. 

ARTICLE  II.  Japanese  subjects  in  south  Manchuria 
and  eastern  inner  Mongolia  shall  have  the  right  to 
lease  or  own  land  required  either  for  erecting  suit- 
able buildings  for  trade  and  manufacture  or  for 
farming. 

ARTICLE  III.  Japanese  subjects  shall  be  free  to 
reside  and  travel  in  south  Manchuria  and  eastern 
inner  Mongolia  and  to  engage  in  business  and  in 
manufacture  of  any  kind  whatsoever. 

ARTICLE  IV.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  to 
grant  to  Japanese  subjects  the  right  of  opening  the 
mines  in  south  Manchuria  and  eastern  Mongolia. 
As  regards  what  mines  are  to  be  opened,  they  shall 
be  decided  upon  jointly. 

ARTICLE  V.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  that 
in  respect  of  the  (two)  cases  mentioned  herein  below 
the  Japanese  government's  consent  shall  be  first 
obtained  before  action  is  taken: 

(a)  Whenever  permission  is  granted  to  the  sub- 
ject of  a  third  power  for  the  purpose  of  building  a 
railway    in    south    Manchuria    and    eastern    inner 
Mongolia. 

(b)  Whenever  a  loan  is  to  be  made  with  a  third 
power  pledging  the  local  taxes  of  south  Manchuria 
and  eastern  inner  Mongolia  as  security. 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  83 

ARTICLE  VI.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  that 
if  the  Chinese  government  employs  political,  finan- 
cial, or  military  advisers  or  instructors  in  south  Man- 
churia or  eastern  Mongolia,  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment shall  first  be  consulted. 

ARTICLE  VII.  The  Chinese  government  agrees 
that  the  control  and  management  of  the  Kirin- 
Changchun  Railway  shall  be  handed  over  to  the 
Japanese  government  for  a  term  of  ninety-nine 
years  dating  from  the  signing  of  this  agreement. 

Ill 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, seeing  that  Japanese  financiers  and  the 
Hanyehping  Company  have  close  relations  with 
each  other  at  present,  and  desiring  that  the  common 
interests  of  the  two  nations  shall  be  advanced,  agree 
to  the  following  articles: 

ARTICLE  I.  The  two  contracting  parties  mutually 
agree  that  when  the  opportune  moment  arrives  the 
Hanyehping  Company  shall  be  made  a  joint  con- 
cern of  the  two  nations,  and  they  further  agree  that, 
without  the  previous  consent  of  Japan,  China  shall 
not  by  her  own  act  dispose  of  the  rights  and  property 
of  whatsoever  nature  of  the  said  company  nor  cause 
the  said  company  to  dispose  freely  of  the  same. 

ARTICLE  II.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  that 
all  mines  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  owned  by 
the  Hanyehping  Company  shall  not  be  permitted, 
without  the  consent  of  the  said  company,  to  be 
worked  by  other  persons  outside  of  the  said  company; 


84  APPENDIX 

and  further  agrees  that  if  it  is  desired  to  carry  out 
any  undertaking,  which,  it  is  apprehended,  may  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  affect  the  interests  of  the  said 
company,  the  consent  of  the  said  company  shall 
first  be  obtained. 

IV 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, with  the  object  of  effectively  preserving 
the  territorial  integrity  of  China,  agree  to  the  follow- 
ing special  article: 

The  Chinese  government  engages  not  to  cede  or 
lease  to  a  third  power  any  harbor  or  bay  or  island 
along  the  coast  of  China. 


ARTICLE  I.  The  Chinese  central  government  shall 
employ  influential  Japanese  as  advisers  in  political, 
financial,  and  military  affairs. 

ARTICLE  II.  Japanese  hospitals,  churches,  and 
schools  in  the  interior  of  China  shall  be  granted  the 
right  of  owning  land. 

ARTICLE  III.  Inasmuch  as  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment and  the  Chinese  government  have  had  many 
cases  of  dispute  between  Japanese  and  Chinese  police 
which  caused  no  little  misunderstanding,  it  is  for 
this  reason  necessary  that  the  police  departments  of 
important  places  (in  China)  shall  be  jointly  admin- 
istered by  Japanese  and  Chinese,  or  that  the  police 
departments  of  these  places  shall  employ  numerous 
Japanese,  so  that  they  may  at  the  same  time  help 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  85 

to  plan  for  the  improvement  of  the  Chinese  police 
service. 

ARTICLE  IV.  China  shall  purchase  from  Japan 
a  fixed  amount  of  munitions  of  war  (say  50  per  cent. 
or  more  of  what  is  needed  by  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment), or  that  there  shall  be  established  in  China  a 
Sino-Japanese  jointly  worked  arsenal.  Japanese 
technical  experts  are  to  be  employed  and  Japanese 
material  to  be  purchased. 

ARTICLE  V.  China  agrees  to  grant  to  Japan  the 
right  of  constructing  a  railway  connecting  Wuchang 
with  Kiukiang  and  Nanchang,  another  line  between 
Nanchang  and  Hangchow,  and  another  between 
Nanchang  and  Chaochou. 

ARTICLE  VI.  If  China  needs  foreign  capital  to 
work  mines,  build  railways,  and  construct  harbor- 
works  (including  dockyards)  in  the  province  of 
Fukien,  Japan  shall  be  first  consulted. 

ARTICLE  VII.  China  agrees  that  Japanese  subjects 
shall  have  the  right  of  missionary  propaganda  in 
China. 

PART  II 
The  Demands  in  Revised  Form  as  Presented  April  26, 


Group  I 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, being  desirous  of  maintaining  the  general 
peace  in  eastern  Asia  and  further  strengthening  the 
friendly  relations  and  good  neighborhood  existing 


86  APPENDIX 

between  the  two  nations,  agree  to  the  following 
articles: 

ARTICLE  I.  The  Chinese  government  engages  to 
give  full  assent  to  all  matters  upon  which  the  Japa- 
nese government  may  hereafter  agree  with  the  Ger- 
man government,  relating  to  the  disposition  of  all 
rights,  interests,  and  concessions  which  Germany, 
by  virtue  of  treaties  or  otherwise,  possesses  in  re- 
lation to  the  province  of  Shantung. 

ARTICLE  II.  (Changed  into  an  exchange  of  notes.) 
The  Chinese  government  declares  that  within  the 
province  of  Shantung  and  along  its  coast  no  territory 
or  island  will  be  ceded  or  leased  to  any  power  under 
any  pretext. 

ARTICLE  III.  The  Chinese  government  consents 
that  as  regards  the  railway  to  be  built  by  China 
herself  from  Chefoo  or  Lungkou,  to  connect  with 
the  Kiaochau-Tsinanfu  Railway,  if  Germany  is  will- 
ing to  abandon  the  privilege  of  financing  the  Chefoo- 
Weihsien  line,  China  will  approach  Japanese  capital- 
ists to  negotiate  for  a  loan. 

ARTICLE  IV.  The  Chinese  government  engages  in 
the  interest  of  trade  and  for  the  residence  of  foreigners 
to  open  by  China  herself  as  soon  as  possible  certain 
suitable  places  in  the  province  of  Shantung  as  com- 
mercial ports. 

(Supplementary  exchange  of  notes.) 

The  places  which  ought  to  be  opened  are  to  be 
chosen,  and  the  regulations  are  to  be  drafted,  by  the 
Chinese  government,  but  the  Japanese  Minister 
must  be  consulted  before  making  a  decision. 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  87 

Group  II 

The  Japanese  government  and  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, with  a  view  to  developing  their  economic 
relations  in  south  Manchuria  and  eastern  inner 
Mongolia,  agree  to  the  following  articles: 

ARTICLE  I.  The  two  contracting  powers  mutually 
agree  that  the  term  of  lease  of  Port  Arthur  and 
Dalny  and  the  term  of  the  South  Manchurian  Rail- 
way and  the  Antung-Mukden  Railway  shall  be  ex- 
tended to  ninety-nine  years. 

(Supplementary  exchange  of  notes.) 

The  term  of  lease  of  Port  Arthur  and  Dalny  shall 
expire  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  the  Republic,  or 
1997.  The  date  for  restoring  the  South  Manchurian 
Railway  to  China  shall  fall  due  in  the  ninety-first 
year  of  the  Republic,  or  2002. 

Article  XII  in  the  original  South  Manchurian 
Railway  Agreement,  that  it  may  be  redeemed  by 
China  thirty-six  years  after  the  traffic  is  opened,  is 
hereby  canceled.  The  term  of  the  Antung-Mukden 
Railway  shall  expire  in  the  ninety-sixth  year  of  the 
Republic,  or  2007. 

ARTICLE  II.  Japanese  subjects  in  south  Manchuria 
may  lease  or  purchase  the  necessary  land  for  erecting 
suitable  buildings  for  trade  and  manufacture  or  for 
prosecuting  agricultural  enterprises. 

ARTICLE  III.  Japanese  subjects  shall  be  free  to 
reside  and  travel  in  south  Manchuria  and  to  en- 
gage in  business  and  manufacture  of  any  kind 
whatsoever. 


88  APPENDIX 

ARTICLE  Ilia.  The  Japanese  subjects  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  two  articles,  besides  being  required 
to  register  with  the  local  authorities  passports,  which 
they  must  procure  under  the  existing  regulations, 
shall  also  submit  to  police  laws  and  ordinances  and 
tax  regulations  which  are  approved  by  the  Japanese 
consul.  Civil  and  Criminal  cases  in  which  the  de- 
fendants are  Japanese  shall  be  tried  and  adjudicated 
by  the  Japanese  consul;  those  in  which  the  defend- 
ants are  Chinese  shall  be  tried  and  adjudicated  by 
Chinese  authorities.  In  either  case  an  officer  can 
be  deputed  to  the  court  to  attend  the  proceedings. 
But  mixed  civil  cases  between  Chinese  and  Japanese 
relating  to  land  shall  be  tried  and  adjudicated  by 
delegates  of  both  nations  conjointly,  in  accordance 
with  Chinese  law  and  local  usage.  When  the  judicial 
system  in  the  said  region  is  completely  reformed,  all 
civil  and  criminal  cases  concerning  Japanese  subjects 
shall  be  tried  entirely  by  Chinese  law-courts. 

ARTICLE  IV.  (Changed  to  an  exchange  of  notes.) 
The  Chinese  government  agrees  that  Japanese  sub- 
jects shall  be  permitted  forthwith  to  investigate, 
select,  and  then  prospect  for  and  open  mines  at  the 
following  places  in  south  Manchuria,  apart  from 
those  mining  areas  in  which  mines  are  being  pros- 
pected for  or  worked;  until  the  mining  ordinance  is 
definitely  settled,  methods  at  present  in  force  shall 
be  followed: 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  89 

PROVINCE  OF  FENG-TIEN 

Locality  District  Mineral 

Niu  Hsin  Tai Pen-hsi Coal 

Tien  Shih  Fu  Kou Pen-hsi " 

Sha  Sung  Kang Hai-lung " 

T'ieh  Ch'ang T'ung-hua " 

Nuan  Ti  Tang Chin " 

An  Shan  Chan  region . .  From  Liao-yang  to  Pen-hsi .  .  Iron 

PROVINCE  OF  KIRIN  (Southern  Portion) 

Locality  District  Mineral 

Sha  Sung  Kang Ho-lung Coal  and  Iron 

Kang  Yao Chi-lin  (Kirin) Coal 

Chia  Pi'i  Kou Hua-tien Gold 

ARTICLE  V.  (Changed  to  an  exchange  of  notes.) 
The  Chinese  government  declares  that  China  will 
hereafter  provide  funds  for  building  railways  in 
south  Manchuria;  if  foreign  capital  is  required  the 
Chinese  government  agrees  to  negotiate  for  a  loan 
with  Japanese  capitalists  first. 

ARTICLE  Va.  (Changed  to  an  exchange  of  notes.) 
The  Chinese  government  agrees  that  hereafter, 
when  a  foreign  loan  is  to  be  made  on  the  security 
of  the  taxes  of  south  Manchuria  (not  including  cus- 
toms and  salt  revenue  on  the  security  of  which  loans 
have  already  been  made  by  the  Central  government), 
it  will  negotiate  for  the  loan  with  Japanese  capitalists 
first. 

ARTICLE  VI.  (Changed  to  an  exchange  of  notes.) 
The  Chinese  government  declares  that  hereafter 


90  APPENDIX 

if  foreign  advisers  or  instructors  on  political,  finan- 
cial, military,  or  police  matters  are  to  be  employed 
in  south  Manchuria,  Japanese  will  be  employed  first. 
ARTICLE  VII.  The  Chinese  government  agrees 
speedily  to  make  a  fundamental  revision  of  the  Kirin- 
Changchun  Railway  Loan  Agreement,  taking  as  a 
standard  the  provisions  in  railway  loan  agreements 
made  heretofore  between  China  and  foreign  finan- 
ciers. If,  in  future,  more  advantageous  terms  than 
those  in  existing  railway  loan  agreements  are  granted 
to  foreign  financiers,  in  connection  with  railway 
loans,  the  above  agreement  shall  again  be  revised 
in  accordance  with  Japan's  wishes. 

Chinese  Counter-proposal  to  Article  VII 

All  existing  treaties  between  China  and  Japan 
relating  to  Manchuria  shall,  except  where  otherwise 
provided  for  by  this  convention,  remain  in  force. 

Matters  Relating  to  Eastern  Inner  Mongolia 

1.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  that  hereafter 
when  a  foreign  loan  is  to  be  made  on  the  security  of 
the  taxes  of  eastern  inner  Mongolia,  China  must 
negotiate  with  the  Japanese  government  first. 

2.  The  Chinese  government  agrees  that  China  will 
herself  provide  funds  for  building  the  railways  in 
eastern  inner  Mongolia;  if  foreign  capital  is  required, 
she  must  negotiate  with  the  Japanese  government 
first. 

3.  The  Chinese  government  agrees,  in  the  interest 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  91 

of  trade  and  for  the  residence  of  foreigners,  to  open 
by  China  herself,  as  soon  as  possible,  certain  places 
suitable  in  eastern  inner  Mongolia  as  commercial 
ports.  The  places  which  ought  to  be  opened  are  to 
be  chosen,  and  the  regulations  are  to  be  drafted,  by 
the  Chinese  government,  but  the  Japanese  Minister 
must  be  consulted  before  making  a  decision. 

4.  In  the  event  of  Japanese  and  Chinese  desiring 
jointly  to  undertake  agricultural  enterprises  and  in- 
dustries incidental  thereto,  the  Chinese  government 
shall  give  its  permission. 

Group  III 

The  relations  between  Japan  and  the  Hanyehping 
Company  being  very  intimate,  if  the  interested  party 
of  the  said  company  comes  to  an  agreement  with  the 
Japanese  capitalists  for  cooperation,  the  Chinese 
government  shall  forthwith  give  its  consent  thereto. 
The  Chinese  government  further  agrees  that,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Japanese  capitalists,  China 
will  not  convert  the  company  into  a  state  enterprise, 
nor  confiscate  it,  nor  cause  it  to  borrow  and  use 
foreign  capital  other  than  Japanese. 

ARTICLE  IV 

China  to  give  a  pronouncement  by  herself  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  following  principle: 

No  bay,  harbor,  or  island  along  the  coast  of  China 
may  be  ceded  or  leased  to  any  power. 


92  APPENDIX 

Notes  to  be  Exchanged 
A 

As  regards  the  right  of  financing  a  railway  from 
Wuchang  to  connect  with  the  Kiukiang-Nanchang 
line,  the  Nanchang-Hangchow  Railway,  and  the 
Nanchang-Chaochow  Railway,  if  it  is  clearly  ascer- 
tained that  other  powers  have  no  objection,  China 
shall  grant  the  said  right  to  Japan. 

B 

As  regards  the  right  of  financing  a  railway  from 
Wuchang  to  connect  with  the  Kiukiang-Nanchang 
Railway,  a  railway  from  Nanchang  to  Hangchow, 
and  another  from  Nanchang  to  Chaochow,  the  Chin- 
ese government  shall  not  grant  the  said  right  to  any 
foreign  power  before  Japan  comes  to  an  understand- 
ing with  the  other  power  which  is  heretofore  inter- 
ested therein. 

The  Chinese  government  agrees  that  no  nation 
whatever  is  to  be  permitted  to  construct,  on  the 
coast  of  Fukien  Province,  a  dockyard,  a  coaling- 
station  for  military  use,  or  a  naval  base;  nor  to  be 
authorized  to  set  up  any  other  military  establishment. 
The  Chinese  government  further  agrees  not  to  use 
foreign  capital  for  setting  up  the  above-mentioned 
construction  or  establishment. 

Mr.  Lu,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  stated  as 
follows: 

i.  The   Chinese  government  shall,   whenever  in 


TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  93 

future    it    considers    this    step    necessary,    engage 
numerous  Japanese  advisers. 

2.  Whenever  in  future  Japanese  subjects  desire  to 
lease  or  purchase  land  in  the  interior  of  China  for 
establishing  schools  or  hospitals  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment shall  forthwith  give  its  consent  thereto. 

3.  When  a  suitable  opportunity  arises  in  future 
the  Chinese  government  will  send  military  officers 
to  Japan  to  negotiate  with  Japanese  military  au- 
thorities the  matter  of  purchasing  arms  or  that  of 
establishing  a  joint  arsenal. 

Mr.  Hioki,  the  Japanese  Minister,  stated  as  fol- 
lows: 

As  relates  to  the  question  of  the  right  of  mission- 
ary propaganda,  the  same  shall  be  taken  up  again 
for  negotiation  in  future. 


CHAPTER  VI 
SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

"The  War  has  brought  about  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  the 
world." — Premier  Hara 

"Mankind  is  looking  now  for  freedom  of  life." — President 
Wilson 

FOR  sixty-five  years  Japan  has  been  playing  the 
game  of  diplomacy  as  taught  by  western  nations. 
She  has  been  an  apt  pupil  and  has  often  excelled  her 
teachers.  Now  a  growing  group  of  statesmen  is 
eagerly  watching  to  see  if  the  West  is  really  sincere 
in  its  desire  to  establish  democracy,  reduce  arma- 
ments, scrap  force  as  the  only  international  arbiter, 
and  adopt  the  better  rule  of  justice,  humanity  and 
friendship.  There  are  abundant  signs  that  when 
persuaded  that  it  is  real,  Japan  is  ready  to  join  the 
new  world  movement. 

A.  GROWTH  OF  DEMOCRACY 

i.  The  Hara  Cabinet 

In  August,  1918,  one  hundred  and  eighty  news- 
paper men  met  at  a  hotel  in  Osaka  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  Ryuhei  Murayama  the  veteran  editor 
of  the  Asahi  and  pledged  themselves  to  work  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  Terauchi  Cabinet.  Their  chief 
grudge  against  General  Terauchi  was  for  his  unblush- 

94 


GROWTH  OF  DEMOCRACY  95 

ing  bureaucracy.  Those  in  power  were  ruling  the 
Empire  without  regard  to  the  will  of  the  people. 
The  fight  was  against  neither  veniality  nor  misgov- 
ernment.  It  was  against  a  theory  of  government; 
it  was  for  democracy.  Other  meetings  of  representa- 
tives of  the  press  were  held  in  Tokyo  and  lesser  cities 
and  the  attack  began.  For  two  months  it  kept  up 
morning  and  evening  all  over  the  Empire  until  on 
September  2ist,  wearied  with  the  showers  of  abuse, 
the  Terauchi  Cabinet  succumbed.  Never  again,  say 
my  Japanese  friends,  shall  we  have  a  cabinet  which 
disclaims  responsibility  to  the  people.  Nor  will  cabi- 
net ministers  cloak  their  misdeeds  with  the  excuse 
that  they  are  acting  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  and  hence  are  beyond  the  pale  of  criticism. 

Mr.  Hara  has  for  several  years  been  the  leader  of 
the  Seiyukai  (Friends  of  Constitutional  Government 
party)  and  he  and  his  associates  consider  themselves 
the  representatives  of  this  party  which  has  now 
the  majority  in  the  Diet  and  which  is  responsible  to 
the  people. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  government  was 
the  change  of  policy  in  Siberia.  The  old  cabinet 
was  responsible  for  the  presence  of  70,0x30  soldiers 
in  North  Manchuria  and  Siberia,  divided  into  three 
separate  armies.  Within  two  months  after  Mr. 
Hara  came  into  office,  the  three  armies  were  united 
into  one,  more  than  half  the  troops  were  withdrawn, 
special  instructions  were  issued  counseling  soldiers 
to  treat  foreigners  and  Russians  with  courtesy,  and 
General  Takeyanagi  made  a  special  visit  to  all  the 


96  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

Siberian  headquarters  to  see  that  the  new  orders  were 
effective.  This  General  when  in  Vladivostok  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  that  the  old  conflict  between 
the  General  Staff  and  the  Foreign  Office  had  ended 
forever.  Had  the  League  of  Nations  been  promptly 
established  the  reaction  which  has  been  mentioned 
in  Chapter  III  would  not  have  taken  place. 

2.  Extension  of  the  Franchise 

The  Constitution  promised  in  1868  and  promul- 
gated in  1889  created  a  representative  Diet  which 
was  convened  the  following  year.  In  1900  the  mem- 
bers were  increased  from  300  to  381,  and  the  number 
of  possible  voters  was  trebled  (from  500,000  to 
1,460,000).  Again  in  March,  1919,  the  tax  quali- 
fication was  reduced  from  Yen  10  to  Yen  3.  Any 
man  over  twenty-five  years  of  age  with  an  annual 
income  of  Yen  500  or  who  pays  a  property  tax  of 
three  yen  may  vote.  Thus  in  twenty  years  the 
franchise  holders  have  increased  from  500,000  to 
nearly  3,000,000. 

But  the  country  is  not  satisfied.  Letters  from 
friends  in  Japan  written  early  in  1920  describe  the 
popular  demands: 

"Our  Socialists  and  Laborers  generally  desire  uni- 
versal male  suffrage.  They  are  clamoring  wildly 
for  the  movement." 

"Circumstances  in  this  country  are  greatly  altered, 
many  problems  are  keenly  discussed.  Among  them 
Universal  Male  Suffrage  and  organization  of  Labor 
Unions  are  in  the  lead." 


THE  FRANCHISE  97 

"...  In  the  meantime  Ozaki  shouts  for  universal 
suffrage  and  the  Young  Men's  Reconstruction  Society 
of  Tokyo  conducts  a  big  parade,  while  the  mob  that 
tries  to  get  into  the  YMCA  auditorium  to  hear  the 
speeches  nearly  wrecks  the  building.  These  are  stir- 
ring times  with  prospects  of  more  stirring  ones  ahead." 

The  Labor  Party,  the  Reconstruction  Union,  and 
many  of  the  leading  newspapers  were  backing  the 
cause.  One  of  the  conservative  journals  in  its  ten 
thousandth  issue  urged  "universal  suffrage  as  a 
preparation  for  a  general  mobilization  of  the  nation 
on  the  one  hand  and  a  safety-valve  for  dangerous 
thought  on  the  other,  and  also  for  a  political  edu- 
cation and  training  of  the  nation,  for  one  can  learn 
how  to  swim  only  in  water." 

Even  Prince  Yamagata,  "the  bulwark  of  Japanese 
conservatism,"  according  to  the  Hochi,  approves  of 
universal  suffrage  as  the  ideal  of  representative  gov- 
ernment, but  he  wants  it  to  be  brought  about  in  the 
due  course  of  things.  (Literary  Digest,  Feb.  28, 
1920) 

3.  Freedom  of  Speech  and  of  the  Press 

After  the  entry  of  the  Hara  Cabinet  the  bars  of 
free  speech  were  suddenly  let  down.  The  country 
was  flooded  with  public  discussions  of  democracy, 
the  rights  of  labor,  social  and  political  reform  and 
internationalism.  Speakers  mounting  the  platform 
in  workingmen's  clothes  denounced  social  and  in- 
dustrial conditions  and  called  for  new  legislation. 
Such  unrestricted  talk  was  a  new  thing  in  Japan. 


98  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

In  the  Imperial  University  a  group  of  students  is 
publishing  a  journal  called  Democracy.  Some  of 
the  Tokyo  professors  are  the  most  active  members 
of  a  society  called  "The  Dawn"  which  in  magazines 
and  by  public  lectures  is  openly  carrying  on  pro- 
paganda for  democratic  ideas.  Monthlies  with  titles 
like  "Reconstruction"  or  "The  New  Society"  are 
born  almost  every  month.  "Kaizo"  (reconstruc- 
tion) is  the  popular  word.  At  the  Imperial  Univer- 
sity YMCA  club  house,  there  is  held  a  "Univer- 
sity Evening"  or  forum  attended  by  200  students 
and  professors.  Fifty  frequently  remain  to  discuss 
with  the  speaker  modern  democratic  ideas. 

4.  Simplifying  Imperial  Travel 

The  writer  remembers  when  His  Majesty,  the 
Emperor,  visited  Osaka  seventeen  years  ago  some 
near-sighted  old  people,  who  were  patiently  sitting 
by  the  roadside  hoping  to  glimpse  their  beloved 
Ruler,  were  ordered  by  an  officious  policeman  to 
show  their  respect  by  removing  their  spectacles. 
Not  infrequently  pedestrians  even  in  rainy  weather 
are  required  to  lower  umbrellas  while  members  of 
the  Imperial  Family  pass.  Streets  were  strewn  with 
fresh  sand  and  all  traffic  stopped  when  the  Imperial 
Party  drove  through.  Along  the  railroad  pupils  of 
near-by  schools  were  marched  out  and  lined  along 
the  fence.  Notice  what  a  change! 

"The  Department  of  the  Imperial  Household  has 
issued  instructions  to  the  Railway  Bureau  and  other 
Government  offices  relating  to  journeys  by  members 


IMPERIAL  TRAVEL  99 

of  the  Imperial  Family,  the  principal  points  of  which 
are  as  follows:  (i)  All  shall  be  as  usual  with  officials 
and  ordinary  passengers  at  railway  stations  unless 
special  instructions  are  given;  (2)  when  there  is  no 
special  waiting  room,  members  of  the  Imperial 
Family  may  rest  in  the  room  of  the  station  master 
or  ordinary  waiting  rooms  from  which  ordinary  pas- 
sengers need  not  be  ejected;  (3)  the  practice  of  mak- 
ing ordinary  passengers  wait  until  members  of  the 
Imperial  Family  get  off  shall  be  abolished;  ordinary 
people  can  alight  at  the  same  time  as  Imperial  pas- 
sengers; (4)  no  special  efforts  need  be  made  to  have 
as  large  a  number  of  people  to  send  off  or  welcome 
Imperial  passengers;  (5)  school  masters  shall  not 
sacrifice  lessons  to  take  out  children  to  send  off  or 
welcome  members  of  the  Imperial  Family;  (6)  guards 
en  route  shall  be  as  few  as  possible  and  as  unobtru- 
sive as  possible;  (7)  traffic  shall  never  be  suspended; 
(8)  the  custom  of  Governors  and  Deputy-Governors 
waiting  upon  members  of  the  Imperial  Family  while 
travelling  through  the  places  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  those  officials  may  be  dispensed  with;  and  (9)  no 
special  arrangements  with  regard  to  the  equipment 
of  hotels  and  places  to  be  visited  need  be  made  unless 
special  instructions  are  given.  (Translated  from  the 
Jiji  in  the  Japan  Advertiser >  Aug.  19,  1919) 

5.  The  Reconstruction  Alliance 

Growing  out  of  the  propaganda  started  by  Doctors 
Yoshino  and  Fukuda  there  was  organized  in  Septem- 
ber, 1919,  a  new  liberal  movement.  Its  promoters 


ioo  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

are  Diet  members  of  various  parties,  labor  leaders, 
free  lances  and  newspaper  writers  back  from  Paris. 
Early  in  1920  the  Alliance  "was  conducting  a  stren- 
uous campaign  to  rouse  public  sympathy  for  the 
cause  of  universal  suffrage."  The  items  in  its  plat- 
form are  all  forward-looking: 

1.  Realization  of  universal  male  suffrage 

2.  Abolition  of  class  distinctions 

3.  Abolition  of  bureaucratic  diplomacy 

4.  Establishment  of  democratic  political  system 

5.  Public  recognition  of  labor  organizations 

6.  Guarantee  of  the  living  of  the  people 

7.  Reform  of  tax  system  along  with  social  policy 

8.  Abandonment  of  formal  education 

9.  Reform  of  colonial  administrative  system 

10.  Purification  of  the  Imperial  Household  Depart- 

ment 

1 1 .  Reconstruction  of  political  parties 

1 2.  Freedom  of  speech  and  press 

(Japan  Advertiser,  Sept.  18,  1919) 

B.  GROWING  POWER  OF  CIVILIANS  AS  OPPOSED  TO 

MILITARISTS 

1.  For  the  first  time  a  civilian,  Baron  Gonsuke 
Hayashi,   formerly   Minister   to   Peking,   has   been 
appointed  Governor  General  of  the  leased  territory 
about  Port  Arthur  and  Dairen  in  Manchuria.    Baron 
Hayashi  was  later  transferred   to   the  embassy  in 
London,  but  a  civilian  took  his  place. 

2.  A  civilian  is  Governor  of  Formosa. 


GROWING  POWER  OF  CIVILIANS  101 

3.  The  law  has  been  amended  so  that  a  civilian 
may  become  Resident-General  of  Korea.    Although 
Baron  Saito  is  a  retired  naval  officer,  in  disposition 
and  intention  he  marks  the  transition  period  from 
the  old  military  governors  to  the  new  civil  era. 

4.  Significant  is  this  paragraph  from  the  address 
of  Premier  Hara  at  a  reception  to  Baron  Makino  on 
his  return  from  the  Paris  Conference: 

"In  future,  international  affairs  are  to  be  managed 
through  the  cooperation  of  the  Powers.  The  result 
is  that  militarism  has  been  absolutely  discarded  and 
the  Powers  are  to  work  conjointly  for  the  sake  of 
world  peace.  In  every  country  there  are  men  who 
find  it  hard  to  abandon  old  ideas.  They  remain 
blind  to  the  general  current  of  the  world,  and  strive 
for  the  acquisition  of  rights  and  interests.  It  should 
be  remembered,  however,  that  such  old-school  pol- 
itics are  no  longer  admissable  in  the  present-day 
diplomacy.  Sincerity  and  straightforwardness  will 
in  future  be  the  guiding  principle  on  which  the  con- 
duct of  diplomacy  should  be  based.  This  will  be 
a  new  phenomenon  to  a  certain  class  of  publicists, 
to  whom  the  maintenance  of  international  coopera- 
tion seems  tantamount  to  national  humiliation." 
(Japan  Advertiser,  Sept.  26,  1919) 

5.  Among  the  changes  announced  for  Korea  are: 
(i)  The  abolition  of  the  custom  of  wearing  swords 
by  civil  officials.     (2)  The  end  of  the  gendarme  sys- 
tem.   Henceforth,  the  police  will  be  under  the  con- 
trol, not  of  an  army  general,  but  of  the  provincial 


102  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

civil  governors.  (3)  From  April  i,  1920,  the  old 
custom  of  flogging  as  a  punishment  for  criminals  was 
abolished. 

6.  The  lure  of  the  uniform  no  longer  attracts  the 
daughters  of  Japan.    In  their  replies  to  a  recent  ques- 
tionnaire sent  to  girls'  colleges  as  to  preference  for 
husbands,  seventy  per  cent,  would  marry  youths  in 
business,  fifteen  per  cent,  technical  experts,  fifteen 
per  cent,  other  classes,  almost  no  one  desiring  army 
or  navy  officers.     (Japan  Review,  Oct.,  1920) 

7.  Professor  Yoshino's  Address 

The  fact  that  an  address  like  that  of  Professor 
Yoshino  from  which  quotations  are  made  below 
could  have  been  delivered  without  police  interference 
shows  a  great  change. 

"So  jealous  are  the  militarists  of  Japan  lest  any 
knowledge  of  their  actions  should  become  known, 
even  to  the  representatives  of  the  Government,  that 
when  in  consultation  with  the  Emperor,  members 
of  the  War  Department  forbid  the  presence  of  the 
Civilian  Court  Chamberlain. 

"The  result  is  that  the  Cabinet  and  people  of 
Japan  are  held  responsible  for  things  done  in  China, 
Korea,  and  other  places  of  which  the  Government 
and  the  people  have  not  the  slightest  knowledge. 
Because  of  this  dual  Government,  Japan  has  been 
greatly  misunderstood  by  America  and  other  foreign 
nations,  as  the  military,  being  the  most  powerful, 
is  the  Japan  most  known  to  the  outside  world. 


PROF.  YOSHINO'S  ADDRESS  103 

"No  other  nation  exists  where  the  Premier  has  no 
control  over  the  military,  and  where  although  the 
War  and  Navy  Departments  are  ostensibly  under 
the  control  of  the  Premier,  they  always  act  inde- 
pendently. In  former  times  the  one  opportunity  for 
the  Premier  to  learn  of  the  proceedings  of  the  mili- 
tary was  the  little  he  might  glean  from  the  Court 
Chamberlain.  About  ten  years  ago  they  closed  this 
opening  by  substituting  a  military  aide-de-camp  for 
the  Court  Chamberlain  when  a  military  audience 
was  held.  In  this  way  the  Premier  and  the  people 
are  kept  in  absolute  ignorance  of  many  important 
happenings.  China  has  frequently  made  representa- 
tions to  the  Foreign  Office  concerning  affairs  in  China 
and  found  that  the  Foreign  Office  was  in  total  ig- 
norance of  the  whole  matter."  (Japan  Advertiser > 
Aug.  9,  1919) 

A  few  months  before  this  address  was  made  Pro- 
fessor Yoshino  explained  to  me  how  since  1909  the 
Military  and  Naval  members  of  the  Cabinet  were 
appointed  directly  by  the  Emperor  and  responsible 
to  him  and  not  to  the  Premier.  That  this  system 
can  with  impunity  be  attacked  in  public  points  to 
a  near  change. 

"All  young  men  in  the  Foreign  Office  are  opposed 
to  it,"  said  Dr.  Yoshino,  "and  even  army  officers 
are  joining  us.  I  was  recently  asked  to  address  a 
hundred  army  colonels,  when  higher  officers  stepped 
in  and  cancelled  the  meeting." 

(For  a  more  complete  statement  regarding  this 
"Dual  Government"  see  Appendix  to  this  chapter.) 


io4  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

8.  Newspapers  are  allowed  to  write  in  a  similar  vein : 

"Under  the  present  regulations  the  military  and 
naval  general  staffs  are  responsible  directly  to  the 
Emperor,  and  are  independent  of  the  Cabinet.  Even 
the  Prime  Minister,  who  is  to  supervise  the  whole 
affairs  of  the  state,  simply  receives  reports  from  the 
Minister  of  War  and  the  Minister  of  the  Navy  re- 
garding military  strategy  and  commands  and  has  no 
right  of  veto  over  them.  Is  such  a  system  in  keeping 
with  the  new  exigencies  of  the  situation  ?  Under  such 
conditions  how  can  constitutional  government  be 
administered  to  the  full?  Great  Britain,  the  United 
States,  and  France,  which  believe  in  democracy, — in 
other  words,  which  place  military  affairs  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  political  administrations, — have 
crushed  Germany  and  Austria  which  subscribe  to 
that  militaristic  system  of  making  the  military  au- 
thorities responsible  directly  to  the  Emperor.  The 
tide  of  democracy  is  now  flooding  the  whole  world. 
If  Japan  continues  to  adhere  to  a  mimicry  of  the 
German  system,  not  only  will  she  run  counter  to  the 
trend  of  the  world's  progress,  but  she  will  invite  the 
suspicions  of  the  Powers.  Such  an  irrational  system 
should  be  speedily  abolished."  The  Hochi  (Quoted 
in  Japan  Advertiser  y  June  12,  1919) 

Even  the  extraordinary  turn  of  Siberian  events  in 
April,  after  the  American  withdrawal,  was  severely 
criticized  by  vernacular  papers: 

"The  war  office,  in  maintaining  its  own  foreign 
policy,  is  bringing  evil  consequences  upon  the  Em- 
pire." Tokyo  Asahi 


THE  RICE  RIOTS  105 

"That  militarism  which  is  usurping  diplomatic 
and  political  functions  is  the  same  as  that  which 
Japan  fought  as  humanity's  common  foe."  Osaka 
Osahi.  (Quoted  in  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger, 
April  1 8,  1920) 

C.  THE  RICE  RIOTS 

The  rice  riots,  or  nation-wide  socialistic  uprising 
of  August  I2th  and  I3th,  1918,  were  pregnant  with 
meaning.  The  rioting  centered  in  Osaka  and  Kobe. 
In  Osaka  Prefecture  alone  230,000  people,  or  a  tenth 
of  the  population,  took  part  in  the  violent  protest 
against  the  high  prices.  All  over  Japan  rice  stores 
were  raided  and  the  owners  compelled  to  sell  at  the 
old  rates  or  about  one-half  the  current  prices.  Rice 
speculators  had  their  residences  broken  into  or 
burned;  and  in  Kobe  the  head  office,  the  camphor 
factory  and  other  property  of  Suzuki  &  Company, 
one  of  the  biggest  firms  in  Japan  and  recent  cornerers 
of  the  rice  market,  were  burned  to  the  ground.  The 
property  loss  in  Kobe  reached  well  over  the  $500,000 
mark.  The  military  aided  the  police,  and  for  a  few 
days  some  of  the  big  cities  were  under  martial  law. 
As  a  result  of  the  demonstrations  the  poor  began  to 
receive  special  attention.  All  over  the  country  new 
social  welfare  undertakings,  like  model  tenements, 
lodging  houses,  and  public  markets  started  up;  and 
the  Government  even  proposed  working-men's  pen- 
sions. The  rich  poured  out  gifts  for  immediately 
providing  cheap  rice.  The  Emperor  headed  the  list 
with  a  gift  of  $1,500,000,  and  wealthy  families  gave 


106  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

1 1 00,000  each,  the  gifts  in  Osaka  reaching  nearly 
$1,000,000.  This  country-wide  outburst  two  years 
ago  against  the  economic  slavery  of  the  lower  classes 
has  accelerated  all  movements  for  social  betterment. 

D.  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT 

"  Nations  are  meant,  if  they  are  meant  for  anything,  to  make 
the  men  and  women  and  children  in  them  secure  and  happy  and 
prosperous."  President  Wilson 

i .  Labor  Unions. 

While  still  in  their  infancy  the  labor  unions  in 
Japan  give  signs  of  great  future  power.  I  will  men- 
tion four: 

a.  The  Friendly  Society  (Yuaikai),  was  organized  in 
1912.  Starting  with  thirty  workers  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Bunji  Suzuki,  a  Christian  bachelor  of  laws  of 
the  Tokyo  Imperial  University,  it  boasted  by  Jan- 
uary, 1920,  a  membership  of  40,000.  Its  monthly 
organ  "Labor  and  Industry"  (Rodo  oyobi  Sangyo) 
enjoys  a  large  circulation.  It  is  not  a  political  body 
and  stands  for  no  "ism."  A  branch  may  be  estab- 
lished wherever  there  are  thirty  or  more  workers 
who  join.  On  its  members  a  monthly  fee  of  fifteen 
sen  is  levied  of  which  five  sen  is  kept  by  the  local 
organization  and  ten  sen  is  forwarded  to  head- 
quarters. In  this  way  the  headquarters  is  assured 
of  a  monthly  income  of  over  Yen  2,500  which  pays 
for  the  magazine  and  general  expenses. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  August,  1919,  the  com- 
monplace platform  of  the  society  was  radically 
amended: 


THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT  107 

(1)  The  name  was  changed  from  plain  "Friendly 
Society"   (Yuaikai)    to   the  more  ambitious  "The 
Friendly  Society,   a  General   Federation  of  Labor 
in    Great    Japan"    (Dai    Nihon    Rodo    Sodomei 
Yuaikai). 

(2)  Like  the  British  Labor  Party  it  decided  to 
include  brain  workers  among  its  members. 

(3)  The  women's  section  was  made  a  separate 
entity. 

(4)  A  miners'  section  was  established. 

(5)  The  seamen's  section  was  placed  on  a  separate 
footing. 

They  intend  in  the  near  future  to  muster  100,000 
members  and  to  present  to  the  coming  Diet  a  monster 
petition  for  universal  male  suffrage.  (Japan  Weekly 
Chronicle,  Jan.  8,  1920) 

The  program  of  this  remarkable  organization  is 
given  in  full  in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter. 

b.  The  Kansai  Federation  of  Labor  was  organized 
in  Kobe  by  Toyohiko  Kagawa.     Closely  affiliated 
with  Mr.  Suzuki's  larger  society  and  already  number- 
ing 5,500  members,  this  promises  to  become  one  of 
the  most  genuine  labor  unions  in  Japan. 

c.  The  Japan   Associated   Labor   Union    (Nihon 
Rodo  Rengokai)  was  organized  in  the  Toyko  Mu- 
nicipal Electric  Office  by  a  workman  named  Kyota 
Arai.     It  numbers  2,000  members  and  is  supported 
by  the  Home  Minister. 

d.  The  Japan  Labor  Union  (Nihon  Rodo  Kumiai) 
has  united  about  1,000  workmen  in  thirty-five  Tokyo 
electric  and  machinery  factories.    This  society  does 


108  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

not  ask  workingmen  to  join  except  with  the  approval 
of  their  employers. 

The  above  are  but  samples  of  the  labor  organiza- 
tions springing  into  life. 

2.  Factory  Laws 

The  factory  law  in  force  from  September  i,  1916, 
has  been  cynically  criticized  as  "solely  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Westerner.  Being  tired  of  telling  curious  visit- 
ing foreigners  that  Japan  had  no  labor  laws,  they 
put  some  on  the  statute-book  and  suspended  their 
execution  for  the  most  part.  The  former  fact  is  ad- 
vertised, and  the  latter  concealed  unless  the  visitor 
is  unusually  inquisitive."  (Quoted  by  John  Dewey 
from  a  Japanese  in  The  Dial,  Oct.  18,  1919.) 

But  the  law  marked  progress.  While  it  applied 
only  to  modern  power  factories  employing  fifteen  or 
more  operatives  and  only  to  those  engaged  in  risky 
or  unhygienic  labor,  it  did  work  some  benefits.  A 
Tokyo  factory  inspector  claimed  that  by  1918  the 
number  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  had 
been  reduced  in  the  Tokyo  factories  subject  to  the 
law  from  2,000  to  1,057. 

By  the  Law  the  normal  working  hours  are  fixed  at 
twelve,  with  an  hour  off  for  rest.  But  for  two  years 
in  weaving  mills  the  limit  might  be  extended  to 
fourteen  hours,  and  in  the  silk  mills  a  simliar  exten- 
sion was  granted  for  fifteen  years.  But  as  53%  of 
the  900,000  silk  weavers  work  in  groups  too  small 
to  be  supervised,  human  endurance  is  their  only 
limit.  There  is  a  restriction  regarding  night  work 


FACTORY  LAWS  109 

(10  p.  m.  to  4  a.  m.)  for  women  and  children,  but  In 
the  cotton  mills  this  will  not  be  enforced  until 
September,  JQJJ.  Two  holidays  a  month  are  to  be 
enforced.  Certain  provisions  regarding  maternity 
and  accident  compensation  were  inserted.  He  who 
breaks  the  law  must  pay  a  fine  not  to  exceed  Yen  200. 
Not  much  advance  to  be  sure,  but  the  law  made  a 
start.  During  the  summer  of  1919,  however,  in  some 
of  the  big  industries  the  workmen  took  matters  into 
their  own  hands  and  actually  secured  an  eight  hour 
day  with  an  increased  overtime  wage. 

The  International  Labor  Conference  called  by  the 
League  of  Nations  in  October,  1919,  at  Washington, 
was  taken  most  seriously  by  Japan.  Eighty-seven 
delegates,  assistants  and  newspaper  men  attended. 
Notwithstanding  the  backward  conditions  mentioned 
above,  these  men,  many  of  them  already  instructed 
by  the  government,  agreed  to  recommend  the  follow- 
ing legislation  to  take  effect  not  later  than  July  I, 
1922: 

1.  The  law  shall  be  applied  to  all  factories  em- 
ploying ten  or  more  workers. 

2.  Night  work  (10  p.  m.-5  a.  m.)  shall  be  for- 
bidden for  women  and  all  children  under  fourteen. 

3.  The  working  week  shall  be  limited  to  48  hours 
for  underground  miners  and  children  under  fifteen; 
57  hours  for  cotton  and  similar  mills  and  60  hours 
for  the  silk  factories.     Not  more  than  100  or  150 
hours  overtime  a  year  shall  be  allowed. 

4.  There  shall  be  established  a  weekly  rest  day  of 
24  consecutive  hours. 


i  io  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

Thus  has  the  clock  of  labor  progress  been  set  for- 
ward from  1933  to  1922. 

3.  Strikes 

From  the  beginning  of  the  War  in  1914  to  its  close 
in  1918,  there  were,  according  to  official  reports, 
over  1,000  strikes  in  Japan.  The  number  grew  from 
50  in  1914  to  64  in  1915,  108  in  1916,  398  in  1917, 
and  the  year  following  the  number  rose  to  417. 
During  these  five  years  the  strikes  increased  over 
800  per  cent.  The  results  show  that  260  cases  were 
withdrawn,  447  were  compromised;  in  149  cases 
labor  lost  and  in  195  the  demands  of  labor  were  ob- 
tained. The  largest  number  of  strikes  were  for 
higher  wages,  the  second  group  stood  out  for  better 
working  conditions  in  the  shop  and  the  third  asked 
for  fairer  treatment  by  foremen. 

At  the  Kawasaki  Ship  Building  Yards  in  Kobe  an 
unusual  strike  occurred  in  September,  1919,  when 
by  what  the  workmen  call  sabotage  or  the  "go  slow" 
method,  the  slacking  employees  in  ten  days  forced 
the  company  to  divide  among  them  Yen  3,750,000 
of  its  big  surplus  fund.  This  set  the  pace  for  many 
other  strikes  and  a  new  kind  of  "go  slow"  pressure 
has  become  prevalent  in  Japan. 

4.  A  Labor  Song 

When  Mr.  Suzuki,  head  of  "The  Friendly  Society," 
visited  Kobe  a  significant  song  was  printed  on  slips 
of  paper  and  sung  by  a  procession  of  welcoming 
laborers.  The  translation  follows: 


STRIKES  AND  LABOR  m 

Workers  of  Nippon,  awake,  awake  I 

Old  things  are  done  with  and  past  away. 

Worlds  that  are  new  are  for  you  to  make. 
Strive  then  and  fail  not  in  this  your  day. 

Farmers  and  weavers  and  shipwrights  all, 
Miners  who  labor  beneath  the  soil, 

You  who  drop  sweat  to  get  bread,  we  call. 
Honors  are  now  for  the  sons  of  toil. 

Early  to  work  though  cold  winds  bite, 
Tired  ere  homeward  their  way  they  take, 

Daylight  gone  and  the  stars  alight, — 
So  they  toil  for  the  whole  world's  sake. 

Workers  of  Nippon,  awake,  awake! 

Old  things  are  done  with  and  past  away. 
Worlds  that  are  new  are  for  you  to  make. 
Strive  then  and  fail  not  in  this  your  day. 
Hooray  for  the  Yuai-kai — Hooray! 

(Japan  Chronicle,  Aug.  14,  1919) 

5.  Labor  and  Capital  Harmonization  Society  (Roshi 

Kyochokai) 

In  the  summer  of  1919  there  was  organized  in 
Tokyo  a  remarkable  society.  Under  the  leadership 
of  the  Premier,  the  Home  Minister  and  Baron  Shibu- 
sawa,  and  in  the  presence  of  200  prominent  citizens, 
the  Labor  and  Capital  Harmonization  Society  came 
to  birth.  The  promoters  profess  to  be  making  a 
genuine  effort  to  promote  the  mutual  welfare  of  both 
labor  and  capital,  and  by  forestalling  ruinous  con- 
flicts to  prevent  economic  loss.  Starting  with  an 


ii2  SIGNS  OF  THE  NEW  JAPAN 

Imperial  grant  and  a  government  subsidy,  a  fund 
of  Y 1 0,000,000  is  being  raised.  The  society  proposes 
not  to  oppose  trade  unions,  to  suggest  labor  legis- 
lation, give  advice  to  both  employers  and  employed, 
publish  a  monthly  bulletin,  erect  houses  for  laborers, 
install  employment  agencies,  arbitrate  labor  disputes, 
provide  entertainment  for  laborers  and  care  for 
children  of  the  working  classes. 
6.  The  New  Labor  Party 

On  December  24,  1919,  there  was  formed  in  Tokyo 
the  Japan  Labor  Party.  Representatives  of  sixteen 
labor  organizations  and  scores  of  students  from  sev- 
eral Tokyo  schools  were  present.  The  planks  in  the 
party's  platform  include  universal  male  suffrage, 
and  the  repudiation  of  capitalistic  political  parties. 
The  new  organization  proposed  to  erect  a  labor  hall 
in  Tokyo  and  to  publish  a  magazine.  (Japan  Weekly 
Chronicle,  Jan.  I,  1920) 

The  democratic  movement  a  few  months  ago  was 
surely  rushing  forward  in  Japan.  The  greatest  ob- 
stacle to  its  growth  is,  however,  the  seeming  failure 
in  western  lands.  Japanese  know  all  too  well  our 
American  municipal  corruption  and  industrial  ex- 
ploitation. They  have  been  amazed  at  the  inaction 
of  Congress.  The  failure  of  our  boasted  Democracy 
promptly  to  pass  legislation  on  international  matters 
and  our  consequent  two  years'  delay  in  making  peace 
and  joining  the  League  of  Nations  are  seriously  hin- 
dering the  progressive  movements  mentioned  above. 
From  the  conservatism  and  confusion  of  America 
and  Europe  and  from  the  extremes  of  Russia,  the 


APPENDIX  n3 

reactionaries   bolster   their   opposition    to   anything 
new.    When  will  the  West  bear  better  testimony? 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI 
A.  Platforms  of  the  Friendly  Society  (Yuaikai) 

Old  Platform: 

(1)  We  aim  at  enlarging  our  views,  developing 

our   moral   character   and   improving  our 
technical  skill  agreeably  to  public  ideals. 

(2)  We  aim  at  improving  our  position  by  com- 

mon efforts  and  by  moderate  means. 

(3)  We  aim  at  attaining  our  object  of  helping 

each  other  by  mutual  friendship  and  co- 
operation. 

New  Platform  adopted  August,  1919: 

(1)  Establishment  of  the  principle  that  labor  is 

not  merchandise 

(2)  Free  and  unmolested  organization  of  labor 

unions 

(3)  Abolition  of  infant  labor  (under  14) 

(4)  Establishment  of  a  minimum  wage  system 

(5)  Equal  wages  for  males  and  females  alike  for 

work  of  the  same  quality 

(6)  One  day's  rest  in  a  week 

(7)  An  eight-hour  day  (48-hour  week) 

(8)  Abolition  of  work  at  night 

(9)  Appointment  of  special  inspectors  over  fe- 

male labor 
(10)  Enactment  of  a  labor  insurance  law 


ii4  APPENDIX 

(n)  Enactment  of  an  arbitration  law  respecting 
labor  disputes 

(12)  Arrangements  for  prevention  of  unemploy- 

ment 

(13)  Equal  treatment  of  native  and  alien  labor 

(14)  Improvement  of  workers'  dwellings  at  public 

expense 

(15)  Establishment  of  a  labor  indemnity  system 

(16)  Improvement  of  subsidiary  work 

(17)  Abolition  of  contract  work 

(18)  Universal  suffrage 

(19)  Amendment  of  the  Peace  Police  Law 

(20)  Democratization  of  the  educational  system 

(Japan  Weekly  Chronicle,  Jan.  8,  1920) 

B.  Professor  Yoshino  on  Japan's 
"Dual  Government" 

(Extracts  from  a  lecture  delivered  to  a  group  of  for- 
eign residents  in  Tokyo,  reported  in  The  Japan 
Advertiser,  April  2,  1920) 

"Although  we  oppose  the  militarism  of  the  govern- 
ment and  also  the  weak  attitude  of  the  people  in 
offering  opposition  to  what  the  government  is  doing, 
we  have  to  recognize  that  there  are  historical  reasons 
for  the  militarism  of  the  government  and  the  weak- 
ness of  the  people  in  opposing  it.  If  we  look  back 
over  the  history  of  the  past  fifty  years  we  see  that 
there  are  historical  reasons. 

"When  Japan  came  into  contact  with  China,  Japan 
was  impressed  by  her  literature  and  various  system. 


"DUAL  GOVERNMENT"  115 

These  were  the  things  that  Japan  immediately  be- 
gan to  imitate.  Later,  when  Japan  came  into  touch 
with  the  Western  world,  the  thing  that  stood  forth 
was  militarism.  The  ships  that  came  from  the  south 
were  warships.  The  ships  that  came  from  Russia 
were  warships.  The  idea  that  the  Japanese  got  was 
that  militarism  was  the  only  thing;  that  militarism 
and  foreign  countries  were  synonymous.  If  one 
reads  books  that  were  published  at  that  time  intro- 
ducing the  West  to  the  Japanese,  that  was  the  point 
of  view  from  which  they  were  written  and  that  was 
the  impression  given  as  a  whole.  The  men  who  at 
that  time  went  abroad  to  study,  the  men  who  are 
the  older  men  in  political  and  military  life  today, 
came  back  stressing  the  need  of  making  Japan 
wealthy,  of  making  Japan  strong;  not  from  the 
spiritual  side,  but  from  the  material,  in  order  that 
Japan  might  be  able  to  withstand  the  pressure  from 
the  West  along  militaristic  lines.  This  came  to  be 
a  national  idea  that  was  pressed  home  upon  the 
people  by  her  leaders  at  every  opportunity.  There- 
fore we  must  acknowledge  that  there  are  good  rea- 
sons for  the  stand  of  the  government  as  a  whole 
and  the  weakness  of  the  people  in  their  opposition 
to  militarism.  So  it  comes  about  that  to  develop  a 
wealthy  nation  and  a  strong  army  becomes  the  high- 
est political  ideal  of  the  time. 

"The  growing  power  of  the  people  brought  on  a 
great  question,  especially  among  the  conservatives. 
I  think  we  must  acknowledge  that  the  problem  that 
this  brought  to  the  conservatives  was  brought  on 


u6  APPENDIX 

from  pure  motives;  that  is,  the  question  of  military 
defense.  Even  today  Prince  Yamagata  thinks  this 
is  the  biggest  thing  to  be  considered  in  the  life  of 
the  nation  as  a  whole.  Compared  with  this  question 
all  other  questions  are  small.  It  is  because  of  their 
concern  for  the  nation  and  their  desire  to  protect 
the  nation.  If  the  people  get  into  power  and  the 
people's  cabinet  gets  power  into  its  hands,  the  dan- 
ger is  that  sufficient  funds  will  not  be  provided  to 
maintain  a  proper  military  machine.  The  people 
have  always  grudged  money  that  has  gone  to  build 
up  a  military  machine  and  to  maintain  military 
defense.  The  result  is  that  in  1909  a  military  ordi- 
nance was  passed  by  His  Imperial  Majesty  which 
provided  that  certain  matters  could  be  brought  into 
force  by  direct  appeal  to  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  submit  them  to  the  Diet. 
Neither  had  members  of  the  Diet  a  right  to  ask 
questions.  The  Minister  of  the  Navy  or  the  Min- 
ister of  War  could,  without  consulting  the  Premier 
or  the  other  members  of  his  cabinet,  carry  things 
over  the  Premier's  head  and  bring  a  law  into  force. 
The  reason  was  that  as  long  as  the  cabinet  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  bureaucrats  there  was  nothing  to 
fear,  but  when  the  government  came  into  the  people's 
hands  some  safeguard  like  this  was  necessary. 

"The  outgrowth  of  this  matter  has  been  that  cer- 
tain things  were  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  cabinet 
and  put  in  the  hands  of  the  men  who  are  in  charge 
of  military  affairs.  Not  only  that,  but  absolute  se- 
crecy was  kept  as  to  the  working  of  that  group  who 


"DUAL  GOVERNMENT"  n7 

were  in  charge  of  military  functions.  Under  such  a 
system  no  one,  not  even  the  Premier  himself,  knows 
what  is  going  on  inside.  This  tendency  to  keep 
military  matters  in  one  group  and  to  keep  them 
absolutely  secret,  has  grown  since  the  Okuma 
cabinet. 

"Of  course  this  scheme  of  a  double  government  is 
not  constitutional.  It  ought  to  be  easily  broken  up. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  government  itself,  cer- 
tainly in  the  present  cabinet  and  among  the  people, 
the  opposition  to  this  scheme  is  very  strong  and  very 
pronounced.  But  it  is  very  difficult  to  be  under- 
taken. The  stronger  the  opposition  among  the 
people  becomes,  the  stronger  the  opposition  of  the 
militarists.  Their  whole  attitude  is  that  whatever 
is  best  for  Japan  is  the  thing  that  is  to  be  done  no 
matter  who  or  what  is  to  be  sacrificed.  The  aim  is 
to  make  Japan  powerful  and  ensure  her  influence  as 
a  nation.  If  that  means  that  China  or  Korea  is  to 
be  sacrificed,  it  is  unavoidable.  This  policy  is  mak- 
ing itself  evident  in  Japan,  Korea,  and  even  in 
Formosa.  The  result  is  that  Japan  has  two  repre- 
sentatives in  China;  the  consuls  representing  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  the  men  who  are  over  there  in 
large  numbers  representing  the  General  Staff.  When 
the  consuls  say  turn  to  the  right,  the  men  represent- 
ing the  General  Staff  say  turn  to  the  left.  And  so 
the  Chinese  are  saying,  'What  is  Japan  doing  any 
way,  what  is  she  up  to?'  Of  course  there  has  been 
a  change  somewhat  for  the  better  in  Korea  and  also 
in  Formosa.  Inevitably  great  mistakes  have  been 


ii8  APPENDIX 

made.  Naturally  people  say,  'Why  is  it  that  the 
Premier  cannot  control  the  General  Staff,  the  Min- 
ister of  War,  the  Minister  of  the  Navy,  members  of 
his  own  cabinet?' 

"There  are  several  things  that  ought  to  be  men- 
tioned here.  One  is  that  the  General  Staff  has  an 
abundance  of  money.  Another  is  that  it  has  a  per- 
fect machine  for  propaganda  which  is  working  over- 
time. Another  matter  we  must  recognize  is  that 
while  the  Japanese  among  themselves  are  careful 
not  to  torment  each  other,  some  think  there  is  no 
harm  in  tormenting  a  foreign  nation.  Especially  is 
that  true  of  the  old  type.  Another  thing  is  that  the 
people  at  large  are  satisfied  at  the  progress  Japan 
has  made.  They  look  back  and  see  what  Japan  has 
accomplished  and  that  makes  them  indifferent. 

"And  yet  there  is  a  growing  number  of  young  men, 
mostly  students,  who  have  acquired  the  world  ten- 
dency. They  are  influenced  by  the  world  spirit. 
They  are  more  and  more  taking  these  things  to 
heart.  If  the  question  was  put  to  the  students  as 
to  whether  or  not  we  should  withdraw  from  Siberia, 
ninety  in  one  hundred  would  stand  for  withdrawal. 
If  the  question  of  giving  Korea  independence  or 
complete  autonomy  was  submitted,  ninety  in  one 
hundred  would  say  give  her  independence  or  au- 
tonomy. If  it  was  put  to  the  students,  'Shall  we 
withdraw  from  Shantung  and  give  it  back  to  China?' 
ninety  in  one  hundred  would  say,  'Yes.' 

"A  certain  university  professor  says  that  because 
of  these  two  contending  forces  we  may  in  the  future 


"DUAL  GOVERNMENT"  119 

look  for  a  revolution;  but  I  cannot  agree  with  the 
professor's  view  for  the  following  reason.  The  young 
men,  the  forward-looking  men,  will  go  on  to  victory 
in  the  road  which  they  have  chosen.  There  will  be 
no  retreat.  They  will  go  right  on  advancing.  That 
is  not  true  of  the  conservatives.  The  young  men 
have  an  inner  confidence  that  they  are  right.  But 
it  is  different  with  the  conservatives.  They  are  not 
sure  of  their  ground,  and  the  whole  history  of  Japan 
has  been  that  when  it  came  to  the  critical  time  the 
conservatives  gave  way.  When  they  found  it  was 
inevitable  they  gave  ground.  That  is  what  is  going 
to  take  place  in  the  future.  Take  for  instance  the 
matter  of  universal  suffrage.  The  conservatives  will 
fight  until  the  thing  is  inevitable  and  then  they  will 
give  in.  The  evolution  of  Japan  towards  democracy 
will  be  like  that  of  England.  There  will  be  no  violent 
overturn  as  in  Russia.  Our  conservatives  will  grad- 
ually yield  to  the  new  impulses.  But  as  to  the  out- 
come there  is  no  doubt.  It  will  take  time,  but  the 
men  who  know  that  they  are  right  and  are  sure  of 
their  ground  are  going  to  win  out.  Japan's  future 
is  bright  with  hope." 


CHAPTER  VII 
JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

Senba  inanagazu 
Hito  katarazu 
Kinshu  no  shogai 
Shayo  ni  tatsu. 

(No  war  horse  neighs,  no  voice  is  heard; 

Outside  the  walls  of  Kinchow  I  stand  in  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun.) 

— Poem  of  General  Nogi 

THUS  wrote  the  noble  knight,  the  modest,  loyal 
patriot,  the  grizzled  Nogi.  Bowed  toward  the  sun- 
set, his  horse,  his  groom,  and  his  two  and  only  sons 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  alone  he  stood  and  re- 
dedicated  himself  to  the  terrible  Port  Arthur  assault. 
After  sacrificing  the  lives  of  22,183  °f  ^s  men>  this 
wonderful  warrior  presented  to  his  revered  Emperor 
as  a  1905  New  Year  gift  the  capitulation  of  this 
strongest  fortress  of  the  Far  East.  A  few  days  later 
began  the  northward  march  of  his  veterans  for  their 
second  great  struggle  around  the  old  Manchu  capital. 

During  the  long  ten  days  of  that  March  bombard- 
ment when  I  sat  in  our  Japanese  YMCA  hut  at 
Newchwang  listening  to  the  breathless  reports  of 
the  terrible  conflict  raging  on  the  fifty  mile  front,  I 
little  realized  what  Mukden,  up  to  that  time  the 
greatest  battle  of  history,  would  mean  to  the  future 

120 


MUKDEN  AND  TSUSHIMA  121 

of  Japan.  Later  during  April  and  May  when  we 
waited  with  intense  anxiety  for  the  slow  coming  of 
the  Baltic  squadron,  even  we  who  were  sharing  the 
travail  could  not  forsee  that  from  the  blood  of  Muk- 
den and  the  smoke  of  Tsushima,  Japan  as  a  world 
power  would  be  born.  In  the  summer  of  1905,  after 
peace  had  come,  when  I  visited  Port  Arthur  and 
went  over  the  great  dismantled  Russian  forts,  I  did 
not  yet  see  how  Japan  was  rapidly  emerging  from 
an  insignificant  nation  to  one  of  the  world's  leaders. 
But  in  the  Spring  of  1919  when  on  my  way  back 
from  Siberia  I  revisited  the  old  battle  fields  and 
looked  down  once  more  from  203  Meter  Hill  on 
those  rapidly  filling  trenches  where  on  a  single  slope 
2,365  brave  Japanese  soldiers  had  laid  down  their 
lives,  I  realized  that  Port  Arthur,  the  plains  of  Man- 
churia, and  Tsushima  straits  were  the  turning  points 
in  the  history  of  modern  Japan.  Her  legions  and 
her  warships  made  her  great.  But  to  read  into  this 
awful  life  and  death  conflict  on  the  shores  and  plains 
of  North  China  a  long-term  plan  for  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Asia  is  a  juggling  with  both  sense  and 
sympathy. 

Japan  in  Manchuria  is  the  story  of  a  railroad  and 
a  city.  The  railroad  is  a  bit  of  transplanted  Amer- 
ican efficiency.  The  city  is  just  Dairen,  a  unique 
combination  of  things  European  and  Asiatic.  After 
an  absence  of  thirteen  years  I  found  it  a  new  town. 
On  the  hill  across  the  bridge  stood,  to  be  sure,  the 
same  red  brick  Russian  buildings.  The  two  cramped 
little  rooms  in  the  former  railway  offices  where  with 


122  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

my  wife  and  baby  I  lived  during  the  return  of  the 
troops  in  1906,  I  saw  unchanged.  But  in  the  Japan- 
ese city  all  was  new.  Paved,  clean,  and  lighted 
streets  led  in  every  direction.  Beautiful  adminis- 
tration buildings,  banks  and  the  handsome  Yamato 
Hotel  surrounded  the  park-like  square.  Up-to-date 
schools,  stores,  houses  and  factories  are  all  there. 
Dairen,  better  than  any  other  city  of  the  Far  East, 
illustrates  what  a  modern  city  ought  to  be. 

The  port  of  Dairen  has  become  a  great  commercial 
city.  If  Newcastle  means  coal,  Dairen  means  beans. 
There  are  in  the  city  fifty-seven  oil  pressing  factories, 
some  of  which  use  modern  machinery  run  by  elec- 
tricity, while  others  are  old-fashioned  hand-worked 
Chinese  mills.  The  annual  export  of  beans,  bean  oil, 
and  bean  cake,  now  numbers  1,300,000  tons.  The  oil 
is  used  by  the  Chinese  as  an  illuminating  lubricant 
and  for  cooking,  and  since  1908  has  been  exported 
to  Europe  and  the  United  States  for  the  manufacture 
of  soap.  The  wharf-loading  record  is  17,000  tons  in 
a  single  day,  while  10,000  tons  is  an  easy  average. 
The  vastness  of  this  trade  is  hard  to  imagine  until 
one  has  seen  along  the  railway  the  acres  of  bean 
mountains  awaiting  transportation. 

In  1917  the  leading  imports  into  Dairen  according 
to  the  report  of  the  American  Consul  were  cigarettes, 
coffee,  cotton  cloth,  electrical  materials,  flour,  gunny 
bags,  sugar,  leather,  and  machinery.  Besides  bean 
products,  the  exports  were  kaoliang,  pig  iron,  and 
wild  silk.  The  net  imports  were  $74,213,120,  and 
the  total  exports  were  $64,450,954.  The  value  of 


DAIREN  123 

the  soya  bean  oil  exported  to  America  in  1917  and 
1918  was  $19,740,640  and  $36,496,060  respectively. 

To  Dairen  and  to  all  Manchuria  the  railway  is  the 
giver  of  life.  My  chief  impression  from  travel  in 
China  is  of  the  flocks  of  laborers  gathered  around 
the  transportation  centers,  ready  like  vultures  to 
pounce  on  anyone  who  can  give  them  work.  In 
1905  when  I  visited  Tientsin,  my  baggage  at  the 
station  was  torn  from  me  and  fought  over  by  fifty 
giants,  hungry  for  a  job.  Fourteen  years  later  at 
the  same  place,  two  score  of  jinrikisha  men  were 
kept  at  bay  only  by  the  policeman's  whip.  At  Har- 
bin the  streets  are  lined  with  peddlars  enduring  the 
fierce  cold  of  winter,  the  sun  of  summer  and  the  in- 
describable dust  of  March  in  order  to  earn  a  few 
coppers.  Ten  men  doing  one  man's  work!  He  there- 
fore who  can  give  one  more  Chinese  honest  em- 
ployment and  decent  pay  confers  a  blessing  on  that 
great  nation.  In  this  sense  the  Japanese  adminis- 
tration in  South  Manchuria  is  a  beneficence. 

The  simple  fact  that  the  Chinese  population  of 
Manchuria,  including  a  little  of  Eastern  Mongolia, 
is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  500,000  a  year  and  now 
numbers  26,000,000  gives  a  hint  of  the  railway's 
contribution  to  China's  development.  Some  people 
seem  to  think  that  the  Japanese  are  swarming  into 
that  region,  but  for  each  Japanese  immigrant  there 
are  fifty  Chinese.  The  total  Japanese  population 
in  1918  was  130,700,  an  increase  at  the  rate  of  only 
10,000  a  year.  The  Koreans  number  357,000  and 
even  they  are  increasing  three  times  as  rapidly  as 


124  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

the  Japanese.  Of  the  Japanese,  nearly  all  are  em- 
ployed on  the  railway,  in  the  mines,  or  are  trades- 
men who  stay  near  the  main  highway.  The  agri- 
cultural lands  are  not  being  taken  in  any  large  way 
by  them. 

By  the  Portsmouth  Treaty  of  September  5,  1905, 
Japan  received  from  Russia  the  lease  of  1,303  square 
miles  of  hilly  country  in  the  Kwantung  Peninsula, 
and  the  South  Manchuria  Railway  as  far  north  as 
Changchun.  This  includes  seventy  square  miles  in 
the  railway  zone  about  the  fifty-five  stations  along 
the  line.  Over  this  zone  and  the  leased  land  sur- 
rounding Port  Arthur  and  Dairen  Japan  rules  as 
absolutely  as  in  her  own  island  realm. 

The  mileage  of  this  road,  which  before  the  war 
booked  through  connections  from  Asia  to  Europe, 
is  as  follows: 

Dairen  to  Changchun 435 . 8  miles 

Antung  to  Mukden 170. 2     " 

Fushun  (coal  mine  branch) 30.8 

Port  Arthur  Branch 31.6     " 

Newchwang  Branch *3  •  9 

Changchun  Kirin  Branch 79.       " 

The  Western  Branch 54. 

Other  Branches 13.3     " 


Total 828 . 6  miles 

(Taken  from  a  publication  of  the  South  Manchuria 
Railway  Company.)  When  to  this  is  added  the 
projected  line  from  Kirin  to  the  coast,  some  proposed 


THE  RAILWAY  125 

branches  west  of  Changchun  and  the  147  miles  of 
the  Russian  line  from  Changchun  to  Harbin  (which 
seems  almost  certain  to  become  Japanese),  the  total 
will  be  well  over  1,000  miles.  As  this  road  traverses 
the  central  and  most  fertile  areas  of  a  province  of 
363,610  square  miles,  capable  of  supporting  a  popu- 
lation of  iCQ,ooo,ooo,  its  value  to  Japan  is  evident. 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  passenger  and  freight 
traffic  explains  the  mutual  benefit  the  road  is  giving 
to  both  China  and  Japan.  The  number  of  passengers 
carried  in  1917,  was  5,844,929,  almost  exactly  four 
times  the  passengers  in  1907.  The  freight  was 
7,274,177  tons,  or  exactly  five  times  that  of  ten 
years  ago.  Two  million  tons  of  beans  are  produced 
by  the  Chinese  farmers,  and  one  and  one-half  million 
tons  of  these  are  railroaded  to  the  sea. 

The  contrast  between  the  efficiency  and  the  mod- 
ern American  style  equipment  of  this  road  and  the 
neighboring  railways  in  China  and  Russia  is  unbeliev- 
able. At  the  Harbin  station  one  April  evening  I  saw 
and  heard  three  thousand  Chinese  coolies  yelling 
and  fighting  for  standing  or  crouching  room  on  a 
train  of  Russian  freight  cars.  Twenty-five  hundred 
jammed  into  the  twenty-five  little  boxes.  South  of 
Changchun  a  few  days  later  I  saw  similar  travelers 
sitting  in  the  Japanese  day  coaches  as  comfortably 
as  we  travel  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
Later,  on  the  Chinese  road,  the  fourth  class  people, 
again  like  cattle,  were  riding  in  the  freight  vans. 

The  profits  from  this  railway,  including  mining, 
shipping  and  other  undertakings,  have  increased  in 


126  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

ten  years  since  1907  from  Yen  2,000,000  to  Yen 
15,000,000.  The  receipts  from  the  five  hotels  run 
by  the  railway  at  Dairen,  Port  Arthur,  and  Mukden, 
the  seaport  resort  at  Hoshigura  and  at  Changchun 
were  in  1917  Yen  475,000  and  they  were  run  at  a 
profit  of  Yen  44,000. 

At  Shahokou  in  the  suburbs  of  Dairen,  at  the 
great  railway  shops  which  are  the  largest  in  the  Far 
East,  I  found  2600  Japanese  and  2800  Chinese  work- 
ing. I  was  told  that  it  is  now  very  difficult  to  get 
sufficient  Chinese  laborers.  The  demand  for  farmers 
and  miners  in  Manchuria,  the  development  of  the 
railway  and  mines  in  Shantung  and  the  shipping  of 
so  many  laborers  to  Europe,  has  drained  the  supply 
so  that  for  once  in  North  China  laborers  are  scarce. 

A  visit  to  the  Dairen  Experiment  Station,  where 
scientific  investigations  of  value  to  industry  are  be- 
ing made,  convinces  one  of  the  tremendous  service 
Japan  is  rendering  to  China.  This  was  started  twelve 
years  ago  and  eight  years  ago  taken  over  by  the 
South  Manchuria  Railway  Company.  On  the  build- 
ings Yen  280,000  was  spent  and  on  equipment  Yen 
140,000.  The  running  expenses  are  Yen  300,000  per 
year,  of  which  Yen  60,000  returns  as  income  from 
the  sale  of  its  products.  This  annual  net  outlay  of 
Yen  240,000  is  a  direct  contribution  to  the  scientific 
development  of  Manchuria.  The  Laboratory  has 
made  many  inventions.  Its  policy  is  to  give  its  dis- 
coveries to  intelligent  companies  which  make  use  of 
them  in  a  profitable  way.  One  fire  brick  factory 
near  Dairen  is  making  bricks,  glass  and  pottery  and 


PROGRESS  127 

employing  a  thousand  men.  There  is  a  factory  for 
the  weaving  of  wild  silk  and  another  for  the  making 
of  cakes  from  millet.  Another  is  making  lineoleum 
from  magnesia  found  in  Manchuria.  The  most  up- 
to-date  bean  mill  in  Dairen  is  using  a  process  intro- 
duced by  this  laboratory.  Experiments  are  being 
made  for  extracting  from  beans  new  kinds  of  oil 
and  glycerine.  Paper  is  being  made  from  the  stalks 
of  kaoliang,  the  big  millet.  In  one  large  room  I 
found  several  chemists  engaged  in  examining  the 
water  brought  from  the  various  parts  of  Manchuria, 
so  that  any  Chinese  or  Japanese  can  without  charge 
have  the  purity  of  his  drinking  water  tested. 

As  usual  the  Japanese  are  promoting  education. 
While  the  Company  is  giving  first  care  to  the  chil- 
dren of  their  own  nationals,  they  are  more  and  more 
opening  schools  for  others.  Of  the  20  primary  schools, 
eight  are  for  Chinese.  There  are  a  medical  school 
and  language  and  technical  schools  also  open  to 
Chinese  students. 

The  chief  industry  of  the  South  Manchuria  Rail- 
way is  the  mining  of  coal  at  Fushun  twenty  miles 
east  of  Mukden.  The  mine  is  one  of  the  largest  in 
the  world  and  the  best  equipped  in  the  Far  East. 
The  vein  was  worked  by  the  Chinese  as  early  as  the 
ijth  Century.  The  Manchu  Emperor  fearing  the 
evil  results  if  he  should  disturb  Feng-Shui  (the  Spirit 
of  Wind  and  Water)  forbade  the  taking  of  coal. 
The  mines  were  therefore  practically  forgotten  until 
1901  when  the  Russians  formed  a  joint  Russian  and 
Chinese  Company.  When  in  1905  the  Railway  was 


128  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

ceded  to  Japan  the  daily  output  was  363  tons  and 
the  number  of  employees  was  356.  The  mining 
village  of  Chien  Chin  Chai  consisting  fourteen  years 
ago  of  fifty  cottages  is  now  a  prosperous  town  of 
37,000  Chinese  and  Japanese.  The  area  of  the 
mine  is  about  ten  miles  from  east  to  west  and  two 
and  one-half  from  north  to  south.  The  seam  aver- 
ages 130  feet  in  thickness  but  in  some  parts  enlarges 
to  450  feet,  nearly  all  solid  coal.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  950,000,000  tons  at  a  depth  of  40  to  3000 
feet,  of  which  60%  can  easily  be  mined.  At  the 
present  rate  of  2,800,000  tons  a  year  it  will  take  over 
three  hundred  years  to  exhaust  the  coal. 

Nearly  all  the  laborers  and  miners  are  Chinese. 
Of  the  26,020  employees  only  1,157  are  Japanese. 
In  1919  the  wages  of  the  Japanese  laborers  were 
Yen  0.92  and  of  the  Chinese  Yen  0.43.  The  lowest 
paid  Chinese  laborer  received  thirty-eight  sen  per 
day.  Cheap  laborers  are  housed  by  the  Company 
free  of  charge  and  they  are  fed  for  1 1  sen  a  day.  One 
quarter  of  a  day's  wages  is  charged  each  month  for 
a  hospital  fee  which  insures  the  laborer  free  atten- 
tion if  ill.  The  demand  for  coal  is  so  great  that  all 
the  mines  can  produce  is  sold  at  a  high  price  to  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  to  the  cities  and  towns  in 
Manchuria  and  on  the  coast  of  China.  Not  far 
from  this  mine,  at  Anshanchan,  the  Company  is 
erecting  a  large  steel  mill. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  employes  the  Company 
operates  a  large  club  house  at  Changchun  and  seven 
smaller  clubs.  Twelve  secretaries  are  employed, 


FUSHUN  MINE  129 

five  of  whom  with  moving  picture  machines  and 
other  equipment  are  constantly  visiting  the  smaller 
stations.  This  uplift  work  was  supervised  until  re- 
cently by  the  late  Mr.  S.  Otsuka  who  in  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War  was  field  director  of  the  Japanese  Army 
YMCA.  The  authorities  also  welcome  and  support 
the  work  of  Dr.  T.  C.  Winn,  a  former  missionary  in 
Japan,  who  has  already  established  seven  Christian 
churches  in  the  railroad  centers. 

COMPLAINTS 

Stories  of  discrimination  by  the  railway  company 
against  non-Japanese  shippers,  reports  of  the  dis- 
agreeable ofBciousness  of  Japanese  police,  and  ac- 
counts of  downright  cruelty  and  wrongs  uncon- 
trolled by  the  Japanese  authorities  so  frequently 
come  to  the  traveler's  attention  that  they  cannot 
be  passed  over. 

A  missionary  told  me  that  it  is  a  common  occur- 
rence for  a  Japanese  drug  store  in  the  country  to 
sell  morphine  to  a  Chinese.  Seeing  his  degrada- 
tion the  relatives  get  angry  and  kill  the  druggist's 
clerk.  Japanese  soldiers  arrive,  arrest  and  behead 
a  Chinese  who  they  claim  is  the  murderer.  A  police 
box  is  established,  Japanese  red  light  houses  come 
in  and  the  morphine  selling  druggist  is  the  leading 
citizen.  Whether  this  is  the  exact  sequence  of 
events  I  cannot  testify  from  personal  observation. 
I  did,  however,  in  every  city  visited  see  more  drug 
stores  than  sales  of  curative  medicines  could  pos- 
sibly support.  Photographs  of  the  unburied  corpses 


I3o  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

of  drug  fiends  I  bought  of  a  Changchun  stationer. 
When  I  finally  asked  a  consular  official  about  this 
commerce  in  injurious  drugs  he  frankly  acknowl- 
edged that  he  and  his  associates  had  been  lenient 
towards  the  morphine  peddlars  and  other  low-class 
traders.  Japanese  were  finding  it  so  difficult  to 
establish  their  business  that  the  officials  had  deliber- 
ately winked  at  some  bad  practices.  Some  of  the 
leading  business  men  in  Manchuria,  he  said,  had 
made  their  first  profits  in  morphine.  But  since 
March,  1919,  the  Tokyo  government  had  issued 
strict  orders  to  stop  this  whole  nefarious  trade.  Re- 
garding the  red  light  districts  it  is  only  too  true 
that  all  over  Asia  prostitution  has  followed  the 
Japanese  flag. 

An  apparently  accurate  report  of  cruel  treatment 
of  a  Chinese  coolie  at  Changchun  I  traced  to  an 
amusing  conclusion.  A  British  non-commissioned 
officer  and  a  business  man  published  a  signed  state- 
ment which  I  condense:  "On  the  I9th  of  December 
a  Chinese  coolie  was  brutally  tortured  by  members 
of  the  South  Manchuria  Railway  staff  and  the  Jap- 
anese police.  One  of  the  office  employees  took  a 
burning  coal  from  the  stove  with  a  pair  of  tongs  and 
applied  it  to  the  face  of  the  coolie,  who  was  appar- 
ently arrested  on  the  charge  of  what  we  imagined 
to  be  a  plain  clothes  policeman.  He  had  apparently 
been  ill-treated  for  some  considerable  time,  as  his 
face  was  dripping  with  blood.  The  whole  staff 
present  were  treating  the  matter  as  a  huge  joke  and 
were  taking  turns  looking  through  the  glass  doors 


COMPLAINTS  131 

of  the  room  where  the  coolie  was  confined,  deriving 
great  enjoyment  from  so  doing."  This  story  I  looked 
into.  What  actually  happened  was  that  a  baggage 
coolie  was  caught  stealing  clothes.  Rather  than 
turn  him  over  to  the  police  the  Japanese  clerks 
practised  a  little  frightfulness  on  him  by  waving  a 
hot  coal  near  his  face  and  painting  his  cheeks  with 
red  ink.  I  tried  to  find  the  fellow,  but  learned  that 
fearing  the  real  police  he  had  left  for  parts  unknown. 
A  story  of  police  red  tape:  An  elderly  American 
lady  was  visiting  her  missionary  sons,  one  in  Korea 
and  the  other  in  China.  Her  American  passport 
had  been  properly  viseed  in  Korea,  but  when  she 
came  to  the  Manchuria  border  she  was  summarily 
removed  from  the  train,  put  on  a  box  car  and  switched 
back  to  the  Korean  side  of  the  Yalu.  Here  she  was 
detained  for  twenty-four  hours  until  her  son  secured 
the  necessary  "police  permit"  for  her  to  travel  in 
Manchuria.  All  the  plans  for  friends  to  meet  and 
help  her  along  the  way  were  thus  upset  on  account 
of  a  new  rule.  I  wish  people  who  like  to  hand  on 
such  stories  regarding  the  unkind  practices  of  Japa- 
nese police  could  have  seen  what  I  saw  on  a  train 
between  Montreal  and  New  York  City.  At  the 
international  boundary,  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
United  States  immigration  officials  with  the  help  of 
the  train  and  Pullman  conductors,  ejected  from 
their  berth  a  young  Jewish  mother  and  her  twenty- 
months  old  baby,  because  the  suitable  passport  was 
lacking.  The  woman  hysterically  asserted  that  her 
relatives,  who  actually  came  looking  for  her  in  the 


I32  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

morning,  were  on  the  train  in  another  car,  but  no 
adequate  effort  was  made  to  locate  them.  Japanese 
officials  are  so  uniformly  courteous  that  any  un- 
necessary harshness  in  Manchuria  is  hard  to  believe. 
That  in  transportation  and  other  business  deal- 
ings the  South  Manchuria  Railway  favors  Japanese 
is  quite  natural  and  probably  true.  The  rule  made 
by  the  Railway  Company  in  the  spring  of  1914  gave 
color  to  this  charge.  In  order  to  divert  traffic  to 
Dairen  and  build  up  that  port,  freight  rates,  regard- 
less of  distance,  were  made  the  same  from  Mukden 
to  Dairen  as  from  Mukden  to  Antung  or  to  New- 
chwang.  The  mileage  is 

Mukden  to  Dairen 250  miles 

"Antung 170     " 

"  Newchwang in     " 

Newchwang  foreign  merchants  are  naturally  bitter 
at  this  injustice  obviously  aimed  against  their  trade. 
In  The  Far  East  Unveiled,  Frederic  Coleman 
has  made  a  careful  study  of  this  question.  With 
his  conclusions  my  brief  observations  agree.  There 
is  little  open  discrimination.  But  when  cars  are 
short  it  is  probably  true  that  the  Japanese  shipper 
is  served  first.  Mr.  Coleman  found  that  a  special 
reduction  of  thirty  per  cent  was  given  to  Japanese 
who  shipped  certain  kinds  of  goods  to  points  in 
Manchuria  through  from  Japan  by  one  of  the  two 
big  Japanese  steamship  companies.  He  concludes, 
however,  that  if  any  western  nation  should  vigor- 
ously object  to  the  obstacles  that  were  being  put  by 


FIGHT  FOR  CONTROL  133 

Japan  in  the  way  of  foreign  business  men  a  real  Open 
Door  might  be  preserved. 

My  whole  impression  of  Manchuria  was  that 
Japan,  notwithstanding  some  wrongs  and  mistakes, 
was  proving  a  real  blessing  to  the  country.  She  has 
helped  to  open  up  a  rich,  vast  hinterland  to  millions 
of  Chinese  farmers  and  industrial  workers.  In  the 
railway  and  the  civil  administration,  she  has  given 
to  China  an  object  lesson  in  efficiency  which  must 
in  time  have  a  deep  effect  on  that  potential,  mis- 
governed nation. 

To  maintain  her  control  in  Manchuria,  Japan  has 
had  a  hard  fight.  Just  after  the  peace  treaty  had 
been  signed  at  Portsmouth  in  1905,  Mr.  Edward  H. 
Harriman,  who  was  then  in  control  of  the  New  York 
Central,  the  Union  Pacific,  and  the  Pacific  Mail 
Steamship  Lines,  arrived  in  Yokohama  with  a  plan 
to  girdle  the  globe  with  ships  and  rails.  He  con- 
ferred with  the  late  Prince  Ito  in  Tokyo  regarding 
the  lease  of  the  South  Manuchuria  Railway.  As 
Japan  had  failed  to  get  the  expected  indemnity  from 
Russia  and  as  her  debt  had  increased  nearly  a  billion 
dollars,  her  finances  were  in  a  serious  condition. 
Prince  Ito,  fearing  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  float 
the  loan  required  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  South 
Manuchuria  road,  seriously  considered  the  American 
proposition.  But  when  this  matter  was  publicly 
known,  there  was  so  much  popular  opposition  that 
the  government  decided  to  manage  the  concession 
without  foreign  help.  In  the  next  five  years  various 
outside  proposals  were  made  which  Japan  regarded 


134  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

as  seriously  threatening  the  railroad's  prosperity. 
In  1907,  the  Peking  government  made  a  contract 
with  a  British  firm  to  extend  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment Railway  which  now  runs  from  Peking  to  Muk- 
den, from  a  station  called  Hsinmintun  directly  north 
to  Fakumen.  This  would  open  up  a  rich  new  dis- 
trict. Japan  objected  on  the  ground  that  this  prac- 
tically paralleled  her  road  and  thus  endangered  its 
prosperity.  In  the  summer  of  1908,  the  American 
Consul-General  at  Mukden,  the  late  Willard  D. 
Straight,  worked  out  a  plan  with  the  Chinese  and 
British  governments  by  which  a  railroad  financed 
by  British  and  American  capital  should  be  built 
from  Kinchow,  west  of  Newchwang  on  the  Gulf  of 
Pechili,  to  Aigun  on  the  Amur  River  on  the  northern 
boundary  of  Manchuria.  This  was  to  cross  the 
Chinese  Eastern  Railway  at  Tsitsichar.  This  propo- 
sition was  vigorously  opposed  by  the  Japanese  as 
it  was  another  scheme  for  parelleling  their  line  and 
would  doubtless  draw  off  considerable  of  the  Trans- 
Siberian  traffic.  Because  of  the  vastness  of  Man- 
churia's rich  fields,  capable  of  supporting  a  population 
equal  to  that  of  the  whole  United  States,  Japan's 
objection  to  new  railroads  seems  now  unnecessary. 
But  in  those  early  days  of  her  shaky  financial  ad- 
ministration on  the  mainland,  Japan  was  anxious 
to  prevent  any  inroads  on  her  concessions. 

Then  followed  in  the  fall  of  1909  the  suggestion 
of  Mr.  Knox,  the  American  Secretary  of  State,  for 
the  internationalization  of  the  whole  Russian  and 
Japanese  railway  system  in  Manchuria.  This  Amer- 


RAILWAY  SCHEMES  135 

lean  plan  for  freeing  North  China  from  the  control 
of  any  one  country  had  an  effect  directly  the  reverse 
of  Mr.  Knox's  intention.  Japan  and  Russia,  enemies 
of  five  years  before,  put  their  heads  together,  rejected 
the  proposal,  and  on  July  4,  1910,  signed  an  agree- 
ment by  which  the  two  countries  covenanted  not  to 
dispose  of  their  railways  and  other  concessions  in 
Manchuria  without  mutual  consent.  Later  in  1916, 
Russia  is  said  to  have  made  a  secret  convention  with 
Japan  by  which  she  surrendered  her  part  of  the 
Manchurian  Railway  from  Changchun  to  the  Sun- 
gari  River,  and  recognized  Japan's  rights  on  this 
river  as  far  as  Petuna  in  Mongolia.  (Frederick  Mc- 
Cormick:  The  Menance  of  Japan y  p.  321) 

The  Chinese  Revolution  which  broke  out  at 
Hangkow  on  October  10,  1911,  called  off  further 
negotiations  by  foreign  powers  regarding  railways 
in  Manchuria.  In  the  following  February  the  edict 
of  abdication  of  the  Manchus  was  issued.  The  pro- 
clamation by  Yuan  Shih  K'ai  announcing  a  republic 
was  made.  For  five  years  no  rival  railway  projects 
were  brought  forward.  But  early  in  1919  in  Peking 
there  came  a  proposition  again  from  an  American 
that  all  the  railways  of  China  be  combined  into  one 
system,  to  be  financed  and  supervised  internation- 
ally. Japan  was  invited  to  consider  putting  the 
South  Manchuria  Railway  into  this  scheme.  Tokyo 
never  took  this  seriously.  But  a  little  later  at  Paris 
a  consortium  was  proposed  by  which  all  undeveloped 
concessions  or  mortgages  held  by  any  power  in  China 
would  be  financed  and  supervised  by  a  four-power 


i36  JAPAN  IN  MANCHURIA 

syndicate  made  up  of  bankers  in  France,  England, 
America  and  Japan.  As  this  excepts  the  South 
Manchuria  Railway  and  mines  and  all  concessions 
actually  being  worked,  Japan  and  the  other  powers 
in  April,  1920,  consented  to  the  plan. 

Manchuria  in  the  Japanese  people  arouses  both 
economic  hope  and  historic  sentiment.  The  sacrifice 
of  the  135,000  soldiers  will  long  be  remembered. 
Although  the  Chinese  complain  of  harsh  treatment, 
although  foreigners  may  say  they  suffer  from  the 
railway's  favoritism,  Japanese  interests  are  so  firmly 
established  that  a  return  to  China  of  the  Manchurian 
road  and  the  mines  is  not  to  be  expected.  The 
friends  of  Japan  do  hope,  however,  that  all  claims 
of  unfair  treatment  of  other  nationals  may  soon  be 
done  away  and  that  the  Japanese  administration  in 
Manchuria  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  direct  benefi- 
cence to  all. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

How  difficult  it  has  been  to  get  the  facts  about 
Korea  can  be  seen  from  the  following  quotations 
from  recent  newspapers  and  magazines: 

"Special  Cable  to  The  Chronicle"  (San  Francisco): 

"Paris,  July  n,  1919 — According  to  Woon  Hong 
Lyuh,  a  Korean  delegate  to  the  peace  commission, 
20,000  leaders  of  the  political  movement  have  been 
killed  by  Japanese  soldiers." 

Even  The  World  Outlook  as  late  as  December, 
1919,  handed  on  the  rumor  that  30,000  to  40,000 
had  been  killed.  This  is  3,000%  exaggeration.  Seoul 
foreigners  when  I  was  there  estimated  the  total  as 
under  1,000,  while  the  official  figures  are  631. 

A  certain  Miss  Heidt,  who  with  her  parents  re- 
turned to  America  July  24,  1919,  from  a  tour  in  the 
Orient,  gets  her  new  fur  coat  pictured  in  the  paper 
and  informs  us:  "The  things  we  saw,  in  addition  to 
the  things  we  heard  from  reputable  persons,  make  it 
appear  that  Japan  means  to  exterminate  the  Ko- 
reans." The  truth  is  that  for  a  century  before  the 
annexation  the  Koreans  failed  to  multiply,  but  now 
the  Korean  population  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of 
500,000  a  year. 

The  Literary  Digest,  of  May  3ist,  under  the  cap- 
tion "Crucifixions  in  1919,"  exhibited  a  photograph 

137 


i38  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

by  which  the  editor  explained  to  his  readers  the 
bitter  persecution  of  Korean  Christians  by  Japanese 
soldiers.  This  same  photograph  appeared  in  Current 
Opinion  for  September  which  credited  it  to  The 
Christian  Herald,  both  of  which  papers  gave  it  as 
an  illustration  of  a  recent  outrage.  A  Japanese 
gentleman,  learning  of  the  misrepresentation  of  the 
American  magazines,  brought  to  The  Japan  Adver- 
tiser of  Tokyo  his  scrap  book  prepared  when  he  was 
in  New  York  in  1906-7.  He  had  clipped  this  much- 
used  picture  from  The  New  York  Journal  which  in 
turn  had  taken  it  from  L*  Illustration,  a  Paris  pub- 
lication. This  photograph  taken  fifteen  years  ago 
was  also  printed  in  Putnam  Weale's  Reshaping  of 
the  Far  East,  London,  1908.  It  illustrates  a  military 
execution  during  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 

Miss  Heidt  visited  the  Severance  Hospital  in 
Seoul  (she  called  it  the  "Servants"  hospital)  where 
she  said  she  saw  "hundreds  of  victims  of  Japanese 
brutality,  including  many  girls  and  women."  I 
have  a  note  signed  by  Miss  Esteb  the  head  nurse 
reporting  that  during  the  two  months  demonstrations 
of  March  and  April  seventy-two  cases  injured  in  the 
riots  were  treated  at  this  hospital,  thirty-eight  of 
these  suffering  from  gun  shots,  twenty-two  from  cuts 
and  twelve  from  light  wounds.  Rather  less  than 
the  hundreds  seen  by  the  tourist. 

The  above  wild  statements,  some  from  our  most 
reliable  magazines,  illustrate  the  misinformation 
being  served  up  to  Americans  regarding  Korea.  The 
truth  is  bad  enough.  Exaggeration  only  confuses 


HISTORY  139 

the  issue.    What  is  the  real  problem  of  Korea  and 
the  background  of  her  relations  with  Japan? 


i.  HISTORY 

During  most  of  the  Christian  Era  Korea  has  been 
the  Poland  between  Japan,  China  and  Russia.  Japan 
has  realized  that  Korea  was  for  the  hordes  of  Asia 
the  causeway  from  the  mainland  to  the  Island  Em- 
pire; that  any  nation  possessing  Korea  "holds  a 
dagger  at  Japan's  throat,"  only  120  miles  away. 
For  seventeen  hundred  years  Japan  has  striven  to 
hold  the  upper  hand  in  the  peninsula. 

In  202  A.  D.  the  Empress  Jingu  led  an  expedition 
to  Korea  and  received  the  submission  of  the  court. 
For  sixteen  hundred  years  with  varying  regularity 
Korean  embassies  bearing  tribute  sailed  from  Fusan 
to  the  capital  of  the  Japanese  Shogun. 

Then  a  shift  in  the  scenes.  For  a  period  in  the 
sixth  century  the  peninsula  devastated  by  war  be- 
came a  part  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  In  1218  Korea 
became  a  vassal  of  Genghis  Khan,  the  doughty 
Mongol,  whose  terrible  horsemen  swept  all  before 
them  from  Eastern  Europe  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific. 

In  1592  Hideyoshi,  one  of  the  most  powerful  re- 
gents Japan  has  ever  known,  angered  at  the  growing 
influence  of  China  and  the  refusal  of  the  Koreans  to 
pay  him  tribute,  sent  an  army  of  130,000  men  into 
the  peninsula.  Five  years  later  a  second  army  of 
163,000  was  dispatched.  Both  of  these  wars  were 


I4o  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

aimed  at  the  combined  forces  of  China  and  Korea, 
but  Korea  was  the  chief  sufferer. 

When  the  Manchus  conquered  China  in  1667  they 
received  the  submission  of  Korea.  But  notwith- 
standing her  relations  with  China  she  continued  to 
send  her  annual  embassies  to  Japan,  bearing  a 
dwindling  tribute  until  1832  when  the  embassies 
ceased. 

Up  to  the  China-Japan  War  the  rulers  at  Peking 
wavered  in  their  claims  to  the  disputed  territory. 
In  1866  after  the  massacre  of  French  missionaries 
in  the  peninsula  China,  fearing  the  demand  for  an 
indemnity,  protested  to  the  French  legation  in  Peking 
that  Korea  was  an  independent  State  for  which 
China  had  no  responsibility.  When  in  1871  Admiral 
Rogers  of  the  American  navy  claimed  satisfaction 
for  the  murder  of  the  crew  of  the  General  Sherman 
the  Chinese  government  again  reaffirmed  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  country.  As  late  as  1 876  when  China 
advised  the  Korean  King  to  sign  the  treaty  with 
Japan  it  was  expressly  stipulated  that  "Chosen, 
being  an  independent  State,  enjoys  the  same  sover- 
eign rights  as  does  Japan." 

But  China  later  attempted  to  reassert  her  power. 
For  ten  years,  from  1884  to  1894  the  Chinese  Resi- 
dent in  Seoul,  the  famous  Yuan  Shih  K'ai,  was  the 
virtual  ruler  of  the  people.  He  succeeded  so  well  in 
his  efforts  to  win  the  country  over  that  in  1890  in 
a  letter  to  the  Emperor  of  China  the  Korean  King 
wrote:  "Our  country  is  a  small  Kingdom  and  a 
vassal  state  of  China."  Yuan  ably  carried  out  Li 


CHINA  AND  RUSSIA  14! 

Hung  Chang's  policy  of  thwarting  all  reforms  at- 
tempted by  the  Japanese.  As  described  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  Japan  saw  that  she  must  choose  be- 
tween a  fight  or  the  occupation  of  Korea  by  China. 
Japan  chose  war.  The  result  was  the  permanent 
elimation  of  China  in  1895  as  a  factor  in  Korea. 

Russia  had  to  be  dealt  with  next.  By  a  combina- 
tion of  flattery  and  adroitness  the  Russians  so  in- 
fluenced the  Korean  Queen  that  the  Japanese  saw 
the  Court  rapidly  turning  towards  these  schemers 
from  the  north.  The  treaty  with  China  was  signed 
on  April  17,  1895.  On  October  8th  the  Queen  was 
murdered.  By  whom  is  a  hotly  debated  question. 
Some  Japanese  rowdies  were  certainly  mixed  up  in 
the  affair,  and  they  were  probably  aided  by  the  in- 
famous Tai-Wen-Kun,  the  father  of  the  King.  Af- 
fairs in  Seoul  became  more  confused  until  on  Feb- 
ruary n,  1896,  the  King  and  Crown  Prince  in  the 
dead  of  night  fled  to  the  Russian  legation.  Although 
two  years  later  Japan  and  Russia  signed  a  protocol 
mutually  agreeing  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  and 
independence  of  Korea,  and  to  abstain  from  all  direct 
interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  country,  Russia 
continued  her  efforts  to  link  up  Korea  with  her  pos- 
sessions in  Dalny,  Port  Arthur  and  Vladivostok. 
This  ruthless  diplomacy  led  up  to  the  Russo-Japanese 
War  which  also  was  fought  by  Japan  to  keep  an- 
other country  out  of  Korea. 

After  the  successful  elimination  of  Russia,  Prince 
I  to  was  sent  to  Seoul  as  Japanese  ambassador.  To 
prevent  the  corrupt  court  from  further  machinations 


142  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

with  other  countries  Prince  Ito  forced  a  convention 
by  which  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  country  were 
surrendered  to  Japan  and  a  Japanese  Resident  Gen- 
eral appointed.  Under  this  new  title  Prince  Ito  con- 
tinued to  reside  in  the  capital  until  his  assassination 
by  a  Korean  at  Harbin  on  October  20,  1909.  Those 
who  knew  him  regarded  Prince  Ito  as  a  devoted 
worker  for  the  regeneration  of  Korea.  His  murder 
and  the  knowledge  that  the  Koreans  were  again 
secretly  plotting  to  get  other  countries  to  intervene 
against  Japan  led  the  Tokyo  Government  on  Au- 
gust 23,  1910,  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  and  annex  the 
country.  Without  a  single  protest  or  claim  for  com- 
pensation from  any  European  Power  Japan  increased 
her  territory  by  fifty  per  cent  and  added  thirteen 
(now  increased  to  seventeen)  millions  to  her  popu- 
lation. 

2.  THE  COUNTRY 

Korea  is  a  country  of  villages.  A  scant  five  per 
cent  of  the  people  reside  in  cities.  The  remainder 
live  today  as  their  ancestors  did  in  little  straw-roofed 
homes.  The  remote  life  of  many  of  the  people  is  il- 
lustrated by  the  following  paragraph  from  the  Seoul 
Press  of  March  17,  1918: 

"The  total  number  of  Koreans  killed  by  wild 
beasts  during  the  past  year  was  88,  and  162  were 
injured.  In  addition  163  cattle  and  horses  and 
2,810  other  domestic  animals  were  killed.  During 
the  same  year  19  tigers,  73  leopards,  332  bears,  199 
wolves,  and  144  wild  boars  were  bagged  by  the 


KOREA  DESCRIBED  143 

gendarmes  and  police"  besides  those  taken  by  other 
hunters. 

The  Korean  peninsula  is  660  miles  long  and  150 
miles  wide.  Its  area  is  84,193  square  miles  or  one 
and  a  half  times  that  of  New  England.  Critics  speak 
of  Japan  as  planning  to  exterminate  the  Koreans 
and  replace  them  with  Japanese.  How  contrary  to 
fact!  While  the  Japanese  in  the  peninsula  are  in- 
creasing at  the  rate  of  17,000  a  year  the  native 
babies  are  adding  to  the  population  a  yearly  net 
gain  of  400,000,  more  than  twenty  times  the  number 
of  Japanese.  Between  1910  and  1920  the  Japanese 
population  increased  from  171,000  to  343,496,  the 
Korean  from  13,000,000  to  16,940,711.  Including 
foreigners  the  total  population  is  17,284,207.  Al- 
though some  Nippon  statesmen  may  have  hoped  to 
find  in  Korea  an  outlet  for  Japan's  surplus  children 
who  have  been  exceeding  the  death  rate  by  800,000 
a  year,  because  of  the  fecundity  of  the  Koreans  and 
their  low  standard  of  wages,  not  many  Japanese  will 
ever  migrate  across  the  straits. 

Korea  is  not  like  China,  fabulously  rich  in  unde- 
veloped resources.  Japanese  geologists  are,  however, 
discovering  profitable  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  copper, 
graphite,  iron,  coal  and  chalk.  Four  hundred  and 
twenty-four  mining  permits  were  issued  in  1917, 
and  the  increase  in  the  production  of  minerals  from 
Yen  6,067,952  in  1910  to  Yen  14,078,188  in  1916 
suggests  moderate  mining  possibilities.  Of  agricul- 
turial  lands  there  are  no  great  plains  still  untouched 
by  the  plow,  as  one  sees  over  the  line  in  Manchuria 


144  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

and  Siberia.  Ten  per  cent  of  the  country  was  cul- 
tivated at  the  time  of  the  annexation.  Land  is 
being  taken  from  swamps  and  hill  sides  and  with 
intensive  agriculture  the  country  should  support 
double  the  present  population. 

The  uncertainty  of  property  ownership  in  old 
Korea  is  well  described  by  Dr.  Arthur  Judson  Brown, 
writing  of  his  visit  in  1901,  when  the  country  was 
still  independent: 

"My  missionary  companion  said  to  an  intelligent 
looking  Korean  who  lived  in  a  modest  house,  kept 
one  ox,  and  tilled  a  few  acres  of  land,  'Why  do  you 
not  build  a  better  house,  keep  more  oxen  and  culti- 
vate more  land?'  'Hush,'  replied  the  frightened 
Korean,  'it  is  not  safe  even  to  whisper  such  things, 
for  if  they  were  to  come  to  the  ears  of  the  magistrate, 
I  should  be  persecuted  until  he  extorted  from  me 
the  last  yen  that  I  possess.'  Wherever  we  went  the 
prevailing  wretchedness  (due  to  bad  government 
and  heavy  taxation)  was  so  great  that  one  wondered 
how  long  human  nature  could  endure  it."  Although 
the  Koreans  are  still  wretchedly  poor,  the  abolish- 
ment of  the  system  of  confiscating  visible  wealth  has 
given  a  real  incentive  to  industry. 

In  the  interior  one  sees  piles  of  stones  about  the 
trunk  of  a  tree  or  bits  of  rag  tied  to  the  branches. 
The  superstitious  believe  such  trees  inhabited  by 
demons.  By  throwing  a  rock  on  the  pile  or  attaching 
a  bright  bit  of  cloth  to  a  twig,  the  attention  of  the 
curious  devil  is  attracted  and  the  fearful  traveler 
dodges  past  in  safety.  Women  preserve  the  comb- 


SUPERSTITIONS  AND  RELIGION  145 

ings  of  their  hair  and  on  a  certain  day  burn  it  in  an 
earthen  vessel  to  keep  the  demons  from  entering  the 
home  during  the  following  year.  To  believers  in 
such  superstition  which  was  the  prevailing  religion 
of  the  old  days  the  Christian  message  of  a  loving 
and  supreme  Father  God  came  like  a  notice  of  re- 
lease to  the  captive.  Mission  work  has  made  rapid 
progress. 

The  478  missionaries  and  their  1400  salaried  fellow 
workers  now  shepherd  churches  which  number 
92,230  regular  members,  who  contributed  in  1917 
1178,500  to  religious  work.  The  Buddhists  claim  49 
temples  and  the  Shintoists  65  preaching  houses,  com- 
pared with  the  3,164  churches,  chapels,  schools,  and 
missionary  houses,  all  centers  of  Christian  activity. 
(For  a  full  and  interesting  recent  description  of 
Korea  read  the  first  hundred  pages  of  Dr.  Brown's 
The  Mastery  of  the  Far  East,  Scribner,  1919). 

3.  THE  JAPANESE  OCCUPATION 

"We,  in  inaugurating  the  extension  of  Our  Rule 
to  Korea  by  virtue  of  Our  Imperial  Prerogative,  are 
anxious  to  give  expression  to  the  sense  of  tender 
solicitude  which  we  entertain  for  our  subjects." 

Thus  began  the  Imperial  Rescript  of  August  29, 
1910,  which  made  Korea  an  integral  part  of  the  Japa- 
nese Empire.  The  material  results  of  Japan's  solici- 
tude for  the  Koreans  are  a  striking  evidence  of  that 
efficiency  and  restless  progress  which  make  Japan 
the  peerless  leader  of  the  East.  At  the  same  time 


i46  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

the  failure  of  the  administration  to  win  the  hearts 
of  the  Koreans  as  evidenced  by  the  recent  uprisings 
is  causing  thoughtful  Japanese  to  question  whether 
the  spiritual  development  of  their  nation  has  not 
been  sacrificed  to  material  ends. 

The  progress  of  Korea  under  Japan's  guidance 
can  be  vividly  shown  by  a  few  plain  facts: 

(1)  In  the  ten  years  1907  to  1916  expenditure  in 
Korea    defrayed    by    the    Japanese    Treasury    was 
$47,932,932    for    the   military   and   158,786,761  for 
the  civil  administration — $106,719,693  expended  for 
Korea. 

(2)  The  Government  is  spending  $47,00x3,0x30  in 
railway    construction,    $8,750,000    on    roads    and 
$5,750,000  in  harbor  improvements.    There  are  now 
1,092  miles  of  railroad,  the  company  giving  employ- 
ment to  10,800  Koreans  and  7,000  Japanese.     The 
director  of  the  Railway  Bureau  is  doing  a  particu- 
larly fine  piece  of  welfare  work  for  his  men,  employ- 
ing a  YMCA  secretary  as  chief  adviser.    The  500 
miles  of  roads  in  1910  are  being  increased  to  15,000 
of  which  half  are  completed.     Mountain  trails  are 
giving  place  to  automobile  highways. 

(3)  The  area  of  cultivated  land  has  increased  from 
6,162,500  acres  to  10,875,000.    Agricultural  products 
exported  in  1912  amounted  to  $6,355,000  and  in  1916 
to  $20,460,000.      Production  of  fruit  has  more  than 
doubled.     The  export  of  cow  hides  increased  from 
half  a  million  to  over  a  million  and  a  half  dollars. 
Waste  land  brought  under  cultivation  is  free  from 
taxation  for  ten  years.     Salt  production  increased 


MATERIAL  IMPROVEMENTS  147 

from  1,000,000  kin  to  71,000,000  kin.  (A  kin  is 
i  Va  pounds.)  There  are  nearly  a  million  depositors 
in  the  postal  savings  banks. 

(4)  The  factories  have  increased  from  almost  nil 
to  780,  producing  $25,000,000  worth  of  products  a 
year. 

(5)  Common  school  pupils  have  increased  from 
20,000  to  82,000  besides  the  54,000  in  private  institu- 
tions.    The   14  industrial  and  commercial  schools 
have  grown  to  90,  including  special  schools  for  tech- 
nology, agriculture,  and  fishing.    There  are  also  high 
grade  colleges  of  medicine,  agriculture,  forestry  and 
engineering.    Korean  students  in  Japan  number  574. 
(On  May  31,  1920  there  were  675  public  common 
schools  with  an  enrollment  of  132,099  pupils  N.  Y. 
Times j  Aug.  21,  1920) 

(6)  Water  works  at  an  expense  of  five  million  dol- 
lars have  been  installed  in  fourteen  cities  and  towns. 

(7)  The  Emperor  of  Japan  at  the  time  of  the 
annexation  provided  a  fund  of  $15,000,000.     The 
interest  from  a  part  of  this  fund,  amounting  to  half 
a  million  dollars  a  year,  subsidizes  427  schools,  pro- 
vides charity  relief  and  is  used  for  the  practical  pur- 
pose of  training  the  old  literati  or  Yangban  in  useful 
methods  of  livelihood. 

(8)  The  tree  planting!      Books  on  Korea  always 
used  to  tell  of  the  universal  lack  of  trees.    My  im- 
pression of  Korea  is  that  all  the  hills,  along  the  rail- 
road at  least,  are  wooded.     By  Japanese  influence 
more  than  ten  million  trees  have  been  planted  near 
Seoul,  and  in  all  Korea  473>i95>576. 


I48  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

(9)  Time  would  fail  to  tell  of  the  wonderful  hos- 
pital in  Seoul,  the  banks,  the  modern  post  and  tele- 
graph, the  improvements  in  local  administration, 
in  courts,  prisons,  and  in  the  safety  to  life  and  prop- 
erty. Fifteen  million  dollars  was  spent  in  resurvey- 
ing  the  land  and  clarifying  all  the  boundaries  of 
farms  and  fields. 

The  following  comparative  table  gives  the  climax 
to  this  brief  story  of  one  of  the  most  backward  nations 
of  the  Orient  being  brought  to  economic  rebirth.  (A 
koku  is  five  bushels,  a  yen  is  fifty  cents,  a  kin  is  I  % 
pounds.) 

Products                                 1910  1916 

Rice 7,900,000  koku  12,500,000 

Wheat  and  Barley.  .  . .      3,500,000     "  6,250,000 

Beans 1,800,000  2,900,000 

Cotton 1 1,000,000  kin  45,000,000 

Cows 700,000  1,300,000 

Manufactures ¥19,000,000  ¥59,000,000 

Mining  Products Y6,ooo,ooo  ¥14,000,000 

Fishing Y8, 100,000  Yi6,ooo,ooo 

Imports ¥39,732,000  ¥74,000,000 

Exports ¥19,913,000  ¥56,801,000 

Japan  may  well  be  proud  of  her  service  to  Korea. 

4.  THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT 

At  the  end  of  the  uprising  of  March  and  April, 
1919,  I  spent  a  week  in  Korea  examining  the  cause 
and  the  meaning  of  the  two  months'  independence 
demonstrations.  I  made  these  investigations  in 


INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT  149 

order,  as  an  outsider  who  knows  Japan,  to  get  if 
possible  an  unbiased  estimate  of  the  actual  con- 
ditions in  Korea  today.  The  frankness  of  some  of 
the  Japanese  officials  in  allowing  me  the  freedom 
of  the  country  is  illustrated  by  a  card  of  introduction 
which  old  General  Kojima,  the  Chief  of  Police  and 
Gendarmes,  gave  me.  As  I  had  expressed  the  desire 
to  interview  soldiers  and  the  lower  police  officers 
without  being  under  suspicion,  this  genial  old  soldier 
drew  from  his  pocket  a  calling  card  and  wrote  on  it: 
"G.  Gleason  of  the  YMCA  is  my  friend.  I  desire 
that  frank  answers  be  given  to  any  questions  he  may 
ask."  This  card  broke  the  ice  everywhere.  By  its 
introduction  I  chatted  with  soldiers,  gendarmes  and 
Japanese  and  Korean  police  and  drew  from  them 
as  well  as  from  my  missionary  colleagues  the  facts 
and  impressions  which  are  here  presented. 

(i)  Story  of  the  Uprising 

The  origin  of  the  recent  agitation  for  independ- 
ence has  been  traced  by  some  to  a  Korean  named 
Rhee,  who  was  once  a  pupil  of  President  Wilson  at 
Princeton.  For  years  he  and  other  supporters  out- 
side of  Korea  have  been  agitating  against  Japan. 
With  confederates  in  the  United  States,  Hawaii, 
China,  and  Manchuria,  he  seems  to  have  planned  a 
demonstration  to  take  place  at  about  the  time  he 
expected  to  be  in  Paris.  He  hoped  to  get  the  ear  of 
President  Wilson.  The  Washington  Government, 
however,  refused  to  give  him  a  passport  and  the 
demonstration  took  place  as  planned  but  without 


ISO  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

the  corresponding  agitation  in  Europe.  Many  of  the 
Koreans  doubtless  had  been  led  to  believe  that  real 
independence  could  be  achieved.  Some  of  them 
thought  President  Wilson  might  appear  in  person 
to  head  the  movement,  and  other  simple  minded 
people  believed  that  they  were  celebrating  what 
had  already  been  determined.  They  thought  that 
cheering  for  independence  might  give  them  some 
special  preferment  in  the  new  government  that  was 
to  be  established. 

On  the  first  of  March,  thirty-three  young  men, 
about  fifteen  of  whom  were  Christians  and  the  others 
members  of  the  semi-religious,  semi-political  Tendo 
sect,  met  in  a  park  in  Seoul  and  without  any  notifi- 
cation to  the  missionaries,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
crowd  of  Koreans  read  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence which  they  had  drawn  up  and  signed.  After 
this  they  went  to  a  tea  house  nearby  and  telephoned 
to  the  police  to  come  and  arrest  them.  They  were, 
of  course,  promptly  clapped  into  jail.  From  this 
park  a  procession  started  to  parade  the  streets 
shouting  "Mansei  (hurrah)  for  Independence." 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  demonstrations  which 
spread  all  over  the  Korean  Peninsula.  ' 


(2)  Official  Report  up  to  October, 

Of  the  2500  village  districts  in  Korea  there  were 
uprisings  in  577,  the  total  number  of  demonstrations 
being  779  with  demonstrators  numbering  452,868. 
Riots  took  place  in  236  places.  The  police  and  gen- 
darmes numbered  8,000  Koreans  and  6,000  Japanese 


OFFICIAL  REPORT  iSI 

located  in  1800  villages.  There  were  besides  these 
about  25,000  Japanese  soldiers  all  of  whom  at  one 
time  were  engaged  in  supressing  the  demonstrations. 
In  185  places  guns  were  fired  at  the  demonstrators; 
631  Koreans  were  killed  and  i  ,409  wounded.  Nine 
Japanese  policemen  were  killed  and  186  wounded. 
In  87  places  public  buildings  were  destroyed  and  in 
88  places  private  houses  were  burned.  Up  to  July 
2oth,  28,934  Koreans  were  arrested.  While  there 
is  a  slight  duplication  in  the  reports,  the  following 
treatment  was  given  those  arrested: 

7,111  were  set  free  without  trial; 
8,993  were  committed  to  trial; 
5,156  were  sent  to  prison; 
10,592  were  flogged  and  released. 

In  only  two  out  of  the  nearly  600  villages  where 
demonstrations  took  place  did  the  Koreans  use  fire 
arms.  That  such  a  peaceful  movement  resulted  in 
the  killing  and  wounding  of  2,000,  the  arrest  of  29,000 
and  the  flogging  of  over  10,000  is  a  fact  which  calls 
for  meditation  more  than  for  comment.  No  Japa- 
nese can  be  surprised  at  the  widespread  wave  of 
protest. 

(3)   The  Burning  of  the  Church  at  Chai-Amm-Ni 

The  reports  of  this  sad  incident  are  conflicting, 
but  the  following  is  close  to  what  happened:  Near 
the  village  of  Chai-Amm-Ni  two  Japanese  police- 
men had  been  killed.  It  was  decided  to  punish  the 
villagers.  On  Tuesday,  April  fifteenth,  early  in  the 


IS*  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

afternoon  some  soldiers  entered  the  village  and 
ordered  the  leading  adult  male  Christians  and 
members  of  the  Tendo  sect  to  gather  in  the  church. 
In  all  some  twenty-seven  men  assembled.  They 
were  attacked  and  apparently  most  of  them  were 
shot  or  bayoneted  before  the  soldiers  set  fire  to  the 
building.  A  few  tried  to  escape  by  running  out  of 
the  church  but  were  killed.  Two  women  who  rushed 
to  help  their  husbands  were  murdered.  Both  were 
Christians.  The  soldiers  then  set  fire  to  the  village 
and  left.  This  act  was  too  much  even  for  the  Japa- 
nese authorities.  The  Governor  General  acknowl- 
edged that  the  soldiers  had  gone  beyond  their  orders. 
The  officers  in  that  district  were  given  the  heaviest 
punishment  possible  without  calling  a  special  court 
martial.  The  massacre  was  a  horrible  and  cruel  re- 
prisal as  doubtless  were  other  punishments  meted 
out  where  Japanese  police  were  killed. 

(4)  Other  Incidents 

The  poor  psychology  of  most  of  the  Japanese 
police,  gendarmes  and  soldiers  was  the  cause  of  much 
cruelty.  The  whole  uprising  took  them  by  surprise. 
In  some  places  the  police  showed  the  kind  of  wisdom 
which  if  possessed  by  all  their  colleagues  would  have 
allowed  the  uprisings  to  pass  off  without  any  blood- 
shed. One  policeman  permitted  the  people  in  his 
district  to  celebrate  for  three  days  when  he  told  them 
that  if  they  wanted  to  preserve  their  independence 
they  must  build  up  an  army  and  navy;  this  would 
require  much  money  so  they  had  better  go  back  to 


STORIES  OF  THE  UPRISING  153 

their  work  and  accumulate  the  wealth  necessary  to 
develop  the  nation.  They  went  away  in  peace.  At 
another  place  the  demonstrators  came  to  the  police 
station  and  demanded  that  the  official  business  be 
handed  over  to  them.  The  official  in  charge  wisely 
replied  that  he  had  received  no  instructions  from 
Seoul  but  when  orders  arrived  he  would  hand  over 
the  books.  The  crowd  quietly  dispersed.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  was  told  that  the  special  soldiers  called 
over  from  Japan  were  given  their  ammunition  on  the 
boat  so  that  when  they  landed  in  Fusan  they  expected 
immediately  to  go  into  battle.  Another  soldier  spent 
all  his  money  in  the  port  thinking  that  he  would  soon 
die  fighting.  He  was  amazed  when  he  saw  the  peace- 
ful condition  of  the  country.  This  failure  of  army 
officers  to  instruct  their  soldiers  that  they  were  going 
among  an  unarmed  people  and  that  the  demonstra- 
tions should  be  put  down  as  far  as  possible  without 
force  accounted  for  a  good  deal  of  the  unnecessary 
brutality  shown  by  the  soldiers.  One  notices  among 
Japanese  army  men  even  in  Siberia  that  they  are 
trained  to  fight  but  that  they  are  not  experts  in  mak- 
ing friends  or  in  suppressing  trouble  by  moral  force 
rather  than  by  cartridges  and  the  bayonet.  The 
seeming  cruelty  shown  in  Korea  is  due,  I  think,  not 
to  the  brutal  hearts  of  the  Japanese  soldiers  but  to 
their  system  of  training. 

I  may  add  here  that  I  have  not  found  evidence 
that  there  has  been  a  single  case  of  assault  on  Korean 
women  by  any  of  the  Japanese  soldiers  or  police. 
Someone  has  started  the  statement  that  the  brutal- 


154  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

ities  of  the  soldiers  in  Korea  may  be  compared  to 
the  treatment  of  the  Armenians  by  the  Turk.  I 
wish  to  take  every  opportunity  hotly  to  protest 
against  such  a  statement.  The  Japanese  have  made 
mistakes  in  the  management  of  Korea.  They  have 
been  cruel.  The  above  mentioned  burning  of  the 
church  was  horrible  and  inexcusable  but  it  was  their 
method  of  punishing  what  they  looked  upon  as 
lawlessness  and  murder  and  has  nothing  in  common 
with  the  driving  of  innocent  Armenians  into  rivers 
and  deserts  or  the  murder  and  rape  of  girls  and 
women. 

(5)   Visit  to  Kyung  Dan 

In  company  with  four  missionaries  I  rode  out 
from  Seoul  to  one  of  the  burned  villages  in  the  Su 
Won  District.  In  this  one  little  hamlet  ninety 
houses,  or  practically  every  building  except  the 
police  station,  were  burned.  A  government  official 
from  Tokio  told  me  that  the  soldiers  had  set  the  fire. 
I  heard  that  it  was  one  of  fifteen  villages  which  had 
been  destroyed,  and  I  looked  on  the  ashes  of  a  burned 
Christian  church  which  I  understand  was  one  of 
forty-one  similar  places  of  worship  to  which  the 
torch  had  been  put.  I  took  many  photographs  in 
this  village.  As  I  motored  over  the  good  roads  built 
by  the  Japanese,  as  I  saw  some  of  the  nearly  half 
billion  of  trees  planted  on  the  hillsides,  I  contrasted 
the  splendid  material  improvements  with  the  sad 
desolation  of  this  little  village.  One  terrified  old 
woman  who  had  built  a  little  hut  over  her  earthen 


KYUNG  DARI  155 

jars  and  pots,  the  only  remnant  of  what  was  once 
her  home,  told  us  how  the  day  before  her  only  son 
and  means  of  support  had  been  arrested  and  taken 
away  to  jail.  The  assistant  pastor  and  caretaker  of 
this  destroyed  church  told  me  of  his  arrest  and  inter- 
rogation by  the  police  who  tried  to  force  him  to 
report  the  details  of  the  death  of  the  policeman  on 
the  road  nearby.  He  removed  his  coat  and  showed 
me  his  blue  arms,  the  record  of  the  blows  he  had 
received  because  he  declined  to  tell  what  he  did  not 
know.  One  other  young  Christian  in  Seoul  also 
showed  me  the  scars  on  his  arm,  his  side  and  his 
thigh  where  he  had  been  beaten  at  the  police  station 
because  he  could  not  truthfully  tell  what  the  police 
tried  to  make  him  state. 


(6)  Newspaper  Attacks  on  Missionaries 

During  the  demonstrations  some  Japanese  ver- 
nacular papers  made  strong  and  unwarranted  attacks 
on  the  missionaries.  I  give  a  few  samples: 

"The  stirring  up  of  the  minds  of  the  Koreans  is 
the  sin  of  the  American  missionaries.  The  uprising 
is  their  work.  .  .  .  These  messengers  of  God  are 
only  after  money,  and  are  sitting  around  their  houses 
with  a  full  stomach.  The  bad  things  of  the  world 
all  start  from  such  trash  as  these." 

"The  American  missionaries  were  behind  the  re- 
cent move.  These  missionaries  have  been  ingratiat- 
ing themselves  with  the  Koreans  and  instigating 
them  to  riot  when  there  was  no  cause  for  it.  ... 


IS6  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

Japan  is  vexed  very  much  by  Americans  in  Korea, 
China  and  Siberia." 

But  these  were  only  the  hasty  words  of  excited 
reporters.  The  Keijo  Nippo  of  Seoul  late  in  April 
wrote:  "The  attitude  of  missionaries  in  Chosen 
with  regard  to  the  recent  trouble,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions  was  on  the  whole  fair,  and  all  suspicion 
held  against  them  is  now  gone." 

Civil  Governor  Yamagata  on  a  visit  to  Tokyo 
interviewed  by  the  Japan  Advertiser  said:  "No  mis- 
sionary in  Korea,  directly  or  indirectly,  took  part 
in  the  Korean  demonstration,  although  it  is  quite 
probable  that  some  missionaries  have  shown  their 
sympathy  with  the  Koreans." 

(7)  Influence  on  Mission  Work 

One  missionary,  Mr.  Mowry  of  Pyeng  Yang,  was 
arrested,  convicted  of  harboring  criminals  and  sen- 
tenced to  six  months'  imprisonment  with  the  execu- 
tion of  the  sentence  deferred.  He  appealed.  He 
was  convicted  by  the  first  count  because  he  allowed 
Korean  young  men  to  stay  at  his  house  when  ac- 
cording to  his  reported  testimony  he  "guessed"  the 
police  were  after  them.  Two  missionaries  were  later 
forbidden  to  continue  as  principals  of  schools  because 
they  did  not  restrain  their  pupils  from  further  agita- 
tion. With  one  exception  all  the  missionaries  I  met 
have  shown  great  patience  and  wisdom.  Until  a  day 
or  two  before  the  uprising  they  knew  nothing  about 
what  was  to  occur.  But  the  fact  that  so  many 
Christians  were  implicated  has  made  the  subordinate 


MISSION  WORK  IS7 

officers  among  the  police  and  gendarmes  very  sus- 
picious of  the  whole  Christian  movement.  The  re- 
sult is  that  the  work  of  the  missionaries  is  difficult 
and  unless  some  solution  for  this  problem  can  be 
found,  the  progress  of  the  church  in  Korea  may  be 
very  slow.  Missionaries  and  friends  of  Korea  are 
much  distressed  as  to  the  future.  The  pettiness  of 
many  of  the  police  officers  has  been  trying.  In  one 
case  they  entered  the  home  of  a  lady  missionary 
and  as  a  suspicious  article  removed  from  the  cover 
of  a  sofa  pillow  the  symbol  of  old  Korea.  From  the 
wall  of  another  missionary's  house  they  took  away 
an  old  Korean  map.  Occasionally  a  gendarme  enters 
a  church  during  the  service  and  examines  all  the 
people  present.  The  police  have  been  known  to 
take  the  roll  book  of  a  church  and  call  on  every 
member;  also  when  a  Korean  makes  a  generous 
donation  to  a  church  or  Christian  school  he  is  likely 
to  be  questioned  as  to  his  motives  in  making  such 
a  gift. 

5.  CAUSES  OF  THE  UPRISING 

From  the  facts  that  have  been  related  above,  it 
is  probably  already  plain  what  were  the  causes  of 
the  opposition  to  the  Japanese  administration  in 
Korea.  All  who  have  visited  the  country  recognize 
that  on  the  whole  Japan  has  made  a  splendid  con- 
tribution to  the  material  welfare  of  her  dependency. 
Why  then  are  the  Koreans  so  dissatisfied?  The 
reason  was  expressed  to  me  most  succinctly  by  a 
Japanese  major.  He  said:  "The  trouble  in  Korea 


i$8  JAPAN  IN   KOREA 

is  that  the  higher  officials  lay  emphasis  on  statistics 
and  not  on  the  winning  of  the  hearts  of  the  Koreans." 
The  Japanese  government  officials  in  Korea  have 
worked  hard  and  in  most  cases  effectively  for  the 
improvement  of  the  country  but  their  way  of  doing 
it  has  been  lacking  in  tact  as  well  as  friendliness. 
They  have  failed  to  win  the  people.  If  I  were  to 
define  in  detail  the  defects  of  the  Japanese  admin- 
istration I  should  mention  four,  all  of  which,  I  may 
say,  I  talked  over  with  Japanese  officials  in  Seoul. 
They  agreed  with  me  on  every  one  of  these  points. 

(1)  Discrimination  Against  the  Koreans 

Although  Korea  is  an  integral  part  of  the  Japanese 
Empire,  the  salaries  of  the  Korean  officials  for  the 
same  work  were  less  than  those  of  Japanese.  The 
preparatory  education  for  Koreans  was  eight  years 
and  for  Japanese  eleven.  Nearly  all  Japanese  as- 
sume an  air  of  superiority  toward  the  Koreans.  And 
the  laws  for  the  Koreans  have  been  different  from 
those  for  Japanese. 

(2)  The  Strictness  of  the  Administration 

Considering  the  simplicity  of  the  Koreans  there  is 
too  much  red  tape.  As  one  Korean  said,  "If  there 
is  forty  miles  of  red  tape  in  the  United  States  there 
is  4000  miles  in  Korea."  There  have  been  too  many 
rapid  and  sudden  changes  in  the  customs  and  too 
many  and  irritating  laws  made  which  the  people 
cannot  understand. 


CAUSES  OF  THE  UPRISING  i& 

(3)  The  Lack  of  Freedom 

There  are  in  Korea  1800  police  and  gendarme 
offices  occupied  by  men  most  of  whom  are  of  petty 
minds  and  narrow  sympathies.  Appeal  from  their 
continual  annoyances  was  impossible  because  the 
Koreans  had  no  newspapers  and  magazines  in  which 
they  could  write.  Freedom  of  speech,  of  assembly 
and  of  the  press  were  not  known.  There  was  taxa- 
tion without  representation.  When  the  world  is 
being  made  "safe  for  democracy"  it  is  not  strange 
that  the  Koreans  thought  this  an  opportunity  for 
winning  their  rights. 

(4)  Espionage  and  Cruelty 

Through  the  continual  examinations  by  police  and 
gendarmes,  privacy  and  personal  rights  have  been 
done  away.  The  police  enter  private  residences  and 
even  the  women's  quarters  to  make  their  searches. 
Everybody  is  suspected.  Unwisely  the  Japanese  in 
their  prison  management  retained  the  Korean  cus- 
tom of  corporal  punishment  for  minor  offences.  One 
blow  could  be  substituted  for  each  yen  of  fine  im- 
posed or  for  each  day  of  the  term  of  imprisonment. 
Some  years  ago  statistics  were  published  showing 
that  two  thirds  of  the  prisoners  put  on  trial  were 
flogged.  In  the  four  years,  1913  to  1914,  221,000 
were  tried  and  only  496  were  acquitted.  These  con- 
victions illustrate  the  annoyance  and  cruelty  of  the 
espionage  system.  Add  to  this  the  undoubted  fact, 
evidence  of  which  I  saw,  that  the  police  were  tortur- 


ifo  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

ing  innocent  people  in  order  to  get  testimony  from 
them,  and  one  sees  that  the  Koreans  have  abundant 
ground  for  complaint.  Even  in  Japan  proper  similar 
torture  has  until  recently  been  practiced.  In  a  long 
speech  in  the  Tokyo  Diet  in  February,  1916,  Mr.  M. 
Takagi,  a  well-known  barrister,  recounted  case  after 
case  of  brutal  treatment  of  persons  suspected  of  crime. 

6.  REFORMS 

Soon  after  the  demonstrations,  Japanese  news- 
papers, prominent  Japanese  politicians  and  other 
leaders  made  many  suggestions  for  reforms:  The 
Military  Administration  should  give  place  to  a 
Civil.  They  called  attention  to  the  wearing  of 
sabers  by  teachers  in  the  primary  schools.  The  old 
element  of  militarism  and  espionage  should  be  done 
away.  Viscount  Kato,  the  former  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs,  even  went  so  far  as  to  favor  some  form 
of  autonomy  for  Korea.  Some  suggested  that  the 
Koreans  should  be  allowed  representation  in  the 
Japanese  Diet,  or  should  be  granted  a  national  as- 
sembly. Others  proposed  freedom  of  the  press, 
assembly  and  appeal. 

Happily  most  of  the  above  suggestions  are  being 
carried  out.  In  the  Emperor's  Rescript  of  August  20, 
1919,  His  Majesty  called  upon  his  officials  "to  rush 
reforms"  and  endeavor  "that  a  benign  rule  may  be 
assured  to  Korea  and  that  the  people  diligent  and 
happy  in  attending  to  their  respective  vocations 
may  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace  and  contribute  to 


REFORMS  161 

the  growing  prosperity  of  the  country."  Premier 
Hara  followed  with  a  proclamation  announcing 
that  "it  is  the  government's  fixed  determination  to 
forward  the  progress  of  the  country  in  order  that 
all  differences  between  Korea  and  Japan  proper  in 
matters  of  education,  industry  and  of  the  civil  ser- 
vice may  be  finally  obliterated.  ...  It  is  the  ulti- 
mate purpose  of  the  Japanese  government  in  due 
course  to  treat  Korea  as  in  all  respects  on  the  same 
footing  with  Japan  proper." 

Although  a  law  has  been  enacted  that  a  civilian 
may  occupy  the  highest  office  in  Korea,  Admiral 
Baron  Saito,  the  new  Governor  General,  is  a  retired 
naval  officer.  His  disposition  and  acts  place  him 
however,  between  the  old  military  dictator  and  the 
hoped-for  democratic  administrator.  Associated 
with  him  is  Dr.  Kentaro  Mizuno,  the  former  Home 
Minister.  Baron  Saito  has  loudly  proclaimed  his 
intention  of  placing  Japanese  and  Korean  subjects 
on  a  footing  of  equality.  He  reports  that  already 
many  Koreans  are  occupying  high  posts  in  the  gov- 
ernment. Among  them  are  five  provincial  governors, 
forty-four  judges  and  public  procurators  and  two 
hundred  and  one  county  magistrates.  In  order  to 
learn  the  desires  of  the  people  Baron  Saito  summoned 
to  Seoul  fifty-two  representative  Koreans,  four  from 
each  of  the  thirteen  provinces.  "  It  is  my  intention," 
he  writes,  "to  grant  the  people  freedom  of  speech 
and  press."  He  plans  "to  grant  the  Korean  people 
the  administration  of  local  affairs  at  some  opportune 
time  in  the  future."  He  intends  "to  open  100  new 


162  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

common  schools  a  year  during  the  next  four  years, 
making  a  total  of  860  common  schools  for  Korean 
children."  Flogging  has  been  abolished.  The 
government  spent  in  1919  a  million  Yen  righting 
the  cholera  invasion  from  Manchuria  and  was  pre- 
pared "to  defray  the  expenses  up  to  ten  million  Yen 
to  relieve  the  suffering  from  the  drought  in  the  north- 
western part  of  the  country."  (The  Independent, 
January  31,  1920) 

The  police  system  has  been  transferred  from  a 
military  to  a  civil  system.  Japanese  gendarmes 
numbering  1,135  anc^  Korean  gendarmes  numbering 
568  have  been  discharged  and  4,788  new  policemen 
have  been  recruited  from  Japan.  Two  thirds  of 
these  never  served  as  police  before.  Many  of  them 
were  addressed  by  Christian  pastors  before  they 
left  Tokyo.  The  police  force  now  aggregate  16,313, 
of  whom  7,520  are  Koreans.  (The  Korean  Situation, 
No.  2,  p.  14) 

A  cordial  attitude  towards  Christianity  has  been 
shown  by  the  new  administration.  In  the  new 
educational  regulations  announced  on  March  7, 
1920,  religion  and  the  Bible  are  permitted  to  be 
taught  in  private  schools.  Two  Japanese  Christian 
pastors  have  been  employed  in  the  Department  of 
Education  and  the  Department  of  Religion.  While 
several  of  the  high  officials  in  the  old  administration 
were  changed,  not  one  of  the  Christians  was  removed. 
(The  Korean  Situation,  No.  2,  pp.  14,  15) 

The  impression  made  upon  a  missionary  by  Baron 
Saito's  efforts  is  given  by  Bishop  Welch  of  the  Meth- 


BISHOP  WELCH  163 

odist  church  in  The  Korea  Mission  Field  for  March, 
1920: 

"It  is  true  that  many  arrests  are  still  being  made, 
that  spies  are  numerous,  and  that  the  treatment  of 
prisoners  is  not  yet  according  to  enlightened  modern 
standards.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  is  also  true 
that  there  is  an  attempt  to  introduce  into  the  police 
system  not  only  a  civilian  administration  but  civilian 
ideals,  that  men  trained  in  Japan  and  carefully 
instructed  as  to  kindly  conduct  have  been  added 
in  large  numbers  to  the  force,  that  the  employment 
of  former  gendarmes  is  only  temporary,  and  that 
no  recent  case  of  wholesale  brutality  has  been  re- 
ported. 

"There  is  less  emphasis  upon  the  military  among 
the  officials  as  witnessed  by  the  disappearance  of 
countless  uniforms  and  swords.  The  salaries  of 
Japanese  and  Koreans  in  government  employ  have 
been  equalised  in  the  various  grades.  Educational 
reforms  of  the  very  sort  urgently  requested  by 
friends  of  the  Korean  people  have  already  been  an- 
nounced and  others  are  under  consideration.  Per- 
mits have  been  given  for  -the  publication  of  three 
newspapers  edited  and  owned  entirely  by  Koreans, 
and  others  are  assured.  Commendable  progress  has 
been  made  towards  freedom  of  publication,  freedom 
of  speech  and  freedom  of  association.  A  Korean 
Advisory  Council  is  being  revitalised  and  has  spoken 
frankly  for  the  people.  Local  councils  are  promised 
for  the  spring.  .  .  .  While  nothing  spectacular  has 
been  done,  a  beginning  has  been  made  towards  the 


164  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

preparation    of    the    people    for    self-government." 
(Quoted  in  Japan  Chronicle ',  March  18,  1920) 


7.  CONCLUSION 

Friends  of  Korea  must  have  patience  with  Japan. 
She  took  over  the  supervision  of  the  country  at  the 
end  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  when  she  was  ex- 
hausted from  her  terrible  two  years  of  fighting.  Her 
national  debt  had  risen  from  Yen  561,000,000  to  Yen 
2,217,000,000.  She  had  neither  the  money  nor  the 
trained  officials  with  which  to  meet  her  new  and 
great  responsibilities  in  Saghalin,  Manchuria,  and 
Korea.  That  she  has  made  so  few  failures  has  given 
her  a  place  among  the  Big  Five  nations  of  the  world 
today. 

Can  we  blame  Japan  for  replying  to  her  critics 
that  Great  Britain  has  had  similar  uprisings  in  Egypt 
and  India  where  the  number  of  natives  killed  seems 
to  have  been  several  times  the  number  of  deaths  in 
Korea?  What  can  we  in  America  say  when  Japanese 
remind  us  that  we  have  lynched  3,224  people  in 
thirty  years — two  every  week — sixty-one  of  whom 
were  women?  They  can  remember,  too,  our  race 
riots  with  every  probability  of  more  to  come.  Would 
that  they  never  hear  of  Haiti! 

What  can  American  military  men  say,  when  our 
neighbors  point  to  that  horrible  record  of  cruelty  in 
our  army  as  published  in  the  Literary  Digest  of 
August  9,  1919?  "In  December,  1918,  at  an  Amer- 
ican military  prison  in  France  a  soldier  prisoner  with 


CONCLUSION  165 

an  imperfect  knowledge  of  English  was  given  some 
minor  military  order.  For  failure  to  respond  as  the 
officer  thought  he  should,  he  was  cruelly  beaten. 
Under  punishment  he  cried  out  'This  is  terrible!' 
Two  sergeants  and  a  lieutenant  beat  him  again,  and 
placed  him  in  a  'pup*  tent  for  solitary  confinement. 
During  the  afternoon  his  quietness  was  noticed,  and 
when  the  tent  was  torn  down  he  was  lying  on  his 
back  with  his  throat  cut. 

"It  was  a  common  thing  to  see  a  sergeant  knock 
a  man  down  or  beat  him  up  on  the  slightest  prov- 
ocation. One  morning  as  the  men  fell  in  line  for 
breakfast  one  man  was  slightly  out  of  line.  Sergeant 
Bell  went  up  to  him  and  punched  him  in  the  face  six 
times." 

And  what  can  Europe  say?  According  to  the 
New  Republic  of  July  2,  1919,  "the  White-Guard 
Finnish  government  was  possessed  of  the  persons 
of  some  120,000  'Red'  citizens  as  prisoners,  of  whom 
some  15,000  were  shot. 

"An  English  correspondent  of  the  New  States- 
man of  London  said  that  'at  Lahti  (Finland)  200 
women  were  taken  out  early  one  morning  in  the 
second  week  of  May  and  mowed  down  in  a  batch  by 
machine  guns.'  He  said  that  the  total  number  of 
Reds  executed  or  murdered  was  from  15,000  to 
20,000."  And  this  is  the  government  that  was  recog- 
nized by  the  American  State  Department. 

This  period  of  national  and  international  read- 
justment calls  for  patience.  We  missionaries  and 
our  supporters  must  not  be  unduly  disturbed,  or 


166  JAPAN  IN  KOREA 

turned  aside  from  our  great  tasks,  by  unsettled  con- 
ditions. We  must  remember  that  much  of  the  foreign 
mission  work  of  the  world  is  done  in  countries  where 
there  is  civil  war  or  great  unrest.  Some  discouraged 
missionaries  say:  "Let  us  go  where  we  can  work 
in  peace.*'  Some  thoughtless  critics  say  that  the 
missionaries  cause  unrest.  We  would  rather  say: 
Unrest  causes  or  calls  the  missionaries. 


CHAPTER  IX 


JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

"There  have  been  many  great  crises  in  history,  but  none 
comparable  to  the  drama  which  is  now  being  enacted  in  the 
Far  East,  upon  the  outcome  of  which  depends  the  welfare  not 
only  of  a  country  or  of  a  section  of  the  race  but  of  all  mankind." 

— Minister  Paul  S.  Reinsch 


Japan 

56,000,0x30  people 
140,200  square  miles 
Few  natural  resources 
7,860  miles  of  railway 
2,539,848  tons  of  steam- 
ships 
$i, 815, 122,000    foreign 

trade  in  1918 
Strong    Central    govern- 
ment 

650,000  tonnage  of  navy 
People   united   and   pat- 
riotic 


China 

400,000,000  people 
4,300,000    square    miles 
Vast    natural    resources 
6,467  miles  of  railway 
150,000   tons   of  steam- 
ships 
$1,231,437,000       foreign 

trade  in  1918 
Civil  War 

No  navy  of  consequence 
Many  different  dialects, 
little  patriotism 


A  FEW  comparisons  like  the  above  and  the  back- 
ground of  "The  Twenty-one  Demands,"  Shantung, 
and  the  four  hundred  million  yen  "Loans"  is  be- 
fore us.  (From  August,  1914  to  October  25,  1918, 
Japanese  loans  to  China  totalled  Yen  391,430,000. 

167 


i68  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

Millard:  Democracy  and  the  Eastern  Question,  p.  192) 
He  who  would  clearly  think  through  the  Japan- 
China  problem  must  also  remember  other  relevant 
facts: 

Since  1848  Portugal  has  annexed  approximately 
800,000  square  miles  of  territory;  Belgium,  900,000; 
Germany  and  Russia  each  1,200,000;  the  United 
States,  1,800,000;  France,  3,200,000;  Great  Britain, 
3,600,000;  and  the  other  white  nations  another 
500,000,  thus  making  13,200,000  square  miles  of 
territory  directly  annexed  by  white  races  during 
seventy  years,  an  area  three  and  one  half  times  the 
size  of  Europe."  (Bishop  Bashford:  China,  An  In- 
terpretation, p.  446) 

Can  we  wonder  at  Japan's  conclusion  that  White 
history  seems  to  prove  that  patriotism  is  both  love 
of  land  and  "love  of  more  land?"  Other  countries 
have  grown  great  by  aggression.  Why  not  Japan? 
At  her  very  door  lies  the  most  pregnant  combination 
in  the  world:  Inexhaustible  and  uncharted  natural 
resources,  an  undeveloped  market,  the  greatest  on 
the  globe,  and  a  streaming  supply  of  virile  labor. 
Add  to  these  material  elements,  the  similarity  in 
language,  customs,  literature  and  religion,  and 
Japan's  opportunity  in  China  becomes  to  her  an 
imperative  call. 

Said  a  Japanese  railroad  man  to  me  at  Harbin: 
"If  every  Chinese  who  wears  one  patched  cotton 
suit  a  year,  would  raise  his  living  standards,  so  as  to 
need  two,  the  demand  could  not  be  met  even  by 
doubling  the  mills  of  Japan."  Who  can  imagine 


NATURAL  RESOURCES  169 

the  buying  power  of  400,000,000  vigorous  human 
beings  when  their  energies  are  harnessed  to  produc- 
tive mines,  railroads,  improved  farms  and  humming 
factories? 

Every  investigator  is  amazed  at  the  bigness  of 
China's  natural  resources  and  the  backwardness  of 
their  development.  Mr.  Julean  Arnold,  economic 
expert  of  the  American  legation  at  Peking,  told  us  that 
five-sixths  of  the  people  of  China  live  in  one-third 
of  the  territory,  leaving  the  other  two-thirds  practi- 
cally uncultivated.  While  in  Shantung  there  are 
500  people  to  the  square  mile,  there  are  undeveloped 
parts  of  Mongolia  teeming  with  mineral  and  animal 
life  which  may  be  even  richer  than  our  western 
plains.  With  her  vast  fields  stretching  away  to  the 
setting  sun,  China  produces  only  2,500,000  bales  of 
cotton  as  against  America's  12,000,000.  The  wheat 
production  is  250,000,000  bushels,  or  less  than  a 
third  of  the  850,000,000  of  the  United  States.  In 
Szechuan  province,  wheat  sells  for  twenty-six  cents 
a  bushel.  Another  twenty-six  cents  for  transporta- 
tion should  put  it  on  the  Shanghai  market  at  less 
than  sixty  cents,  or  about  one-fourth  the  price  paid 
American  farmers  in  r9i9.  By  improved  farm 
methods,  by  the  development  of  new  lands  and  the 
opening  of  railroads,  China  may  solve  the  high  cost 
of  food  for  the  whole  Orient,  if  not  for  the  world. 

An  American  coal  expert  estimates  the  world's 
supply  outside  the  United  States  and  China  at  573,- 
000,000,000  tons,  while  naming  1,500,000,000,000 
as  the  supply  of  China.  At  the  present  rate  of  con- 


170  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

sumption  China  could  coal  the  world  for  1500  years. 
Iron  ore,  too,  is  found  in  abundance.  In  1913, 
President  Farrell  of  the  United  States  Steel  Company 
stated  that  Hangkow  pig  iron  could  be  landed  at 
San  Francisco  at  110.78  per  ton,  just  half  the  Amer- 
ican price  at  the  same  place.  A  British  engineer 
estimated  that  no  Chinese  could  in  a  day  smelt  as 
much  iron  as  100  Pittsburg  workers.  Their  wage, 
however,  was  one-fifteenth  of  the  American.  He 
added  that  with  some  easily  made  improvements, 
the  Hangkow  company  could  produce  pig  iron  at 
Ij.oo  per  ton.  (Bashford:  China,  An  Interpretation, 
pp.  449,  450)  But  the  output  in  1918  was  a  mere 
half  million  tons  in  contrast  to  America's  thirty-nine 
millions. 

While  one-third  of  China's  imports  are  cotton 
goods,  her  spindles  number  only  1,500,000  in  com- 
parison with  the  3,500,000  of  Japan,  32,000,000  of 
the  United  States  and  52,000,000  of  England.  In 
China,  there  are  only  5,000  looms  and  in  England 
840,000.  To  erect  a  factory  of  50,000  spindles  and 
500  looms  requires  $  1,000,000.  When  one  ponders 
a  moment  on  the  amount  of  money  which  will  be 
required  to  equip  China's  mills,  exploit  her  fields 
and  mines  and  lay  out  her  railroads,  one  can  appre- 
ciate the  words  of  Mr.  Baker,  the  American  adviser 
to  the  Chinese  Department  of  Communications: 
"There  is  not  sufficient  capital  in  all  the  world  to 
start  China  running  as  a  modern  concern."  Speak- 
ing of  Japan's  fear  that  there  is  not  room  enough  for 
other  foreign  interests  in  this  vast  country,  Mr. 


COMMERCIAL  POSSIBILITIES  171 

Arnold  remarked:  "I  wonder  that  there  is  a  human 
being  that  can  read  and  write  who  can  hold  these 
little  ideas." 

Some  American  business  men,  also  still  deaf,  dumb 
and  blind  to  the  unlimited  and  elastic  future  trade 
of  Asia,  including  that  of  waking  Russia,  complain 
of  the  dangerous  economic  rivalry  of  Japan.  Such 
economists  fail  to  see  two  important  facts:  First, 
that  the  commercial  possibilities  of  the  Far  East 
are  beyond  calculation,  providing  room  enough  for 
all.  John  Spargo  estimates  that  Russia  alone  will 
need  $12,500,000,000  worth  of  machinery  for  fac- 
tories, $4,000,000,000  to  improve  waterways,  $8,500,- 
000,000  for  her  railways  and  unestimated  quantities 
of  farm  machinery.  (Russia  as  an  American  Prob- 
lem, pp.  269-279)  Second,  that  the  deeper  Japan 
enters  into  these  possibilities  the  greater  becomes 
her  own  consuming  power.  See  how  her  imports 
have  grown: 

1898 Yen     277,000,000 

1908 436,000,000 

1918 1,668,000,000 

1919 2,173,000,000 

Notwithstanding  the  tremendous  exports  of  the 
last  four  years,  her  excess  of  imports  for  1919  was 
$38,700,000,  and  for  the  first  six  months  of  1920  it 
was  $247,470,000.  (New  York  Times,  July  18,  1920) 
Prosperity  for  one  brings  prosperity  to  all. 

Japan's  mistakes  in  China  began,  it  seems  to  me, 
at  the  close  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  Instead 


172  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

of  being  the  modest  friend,  Japan  became  the  superior 
neighbor.  Evidence  has  been  all  too  frequent.  As 
far  back  as  1906,  I  saw  a  Japanese  pulling  a  Chinese 
about  by  the  hair  because  the  coolie  had  accidentally 
spilled  some  water  on  the  soldier's  coat.  At  Chang- 
chun Station  last  spring  a  railroad  guard  calling  a 
train,  roused  the  sleeping  Chinese  by  a  kick.  By 
such  over-bearing  treatment,  Japan  has  steadily 
lost  that  almost  worshipful  respect  which  in  1905 
she  won  on  the  Manchurian  plains.  What  should 
have  been  a  campaign  of  friendship  has  given  way  to 
a  policy  of  force. 

THE  TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS 

The  Twenty-one  Demands  of  January  18,  1915, 
were  an  undisguised,  concrete  evidence  of  Japan's 
aggressive  policy.  The  original  articles  can  be  found 
in  full  in  the  appendix  to  Chapter  V.  Against  this 
act,  all  foreign  and  much  Japanese  opinion  has  been 
united. 

Of  these  Twenty-one  Articles  such  an  impartial 
writer  as  A.  S.  Hershey  gives  his  impression: 

"Group  V  showed  that  Japan  was  aiming  at  the 
political  control  of  China,  whether  for  its  own  sake 
or  in  order,  more  likely,  to  be  able  the  better  to  ex- 
ploit her  commercial  and  industrial  resources.  The 
granting  of  these  demands  would,  in  effect,  have 
transformed  China  into  a  protectorate,  a  vassal 
state  of  Japan.  (Modern  Japan,  p.  304) 

Even  Baron  Gonsuke  Hayashi,  former  Japanese 
Minister  in  Peking,  later  Governor  General  of  the 


THE  TWENTY-ONE  DEMANDS  173 

leased  territory  in  Manchuria,  now  Ambassador  to 
England,  said  of  these  negotiations: 

"When  Viscount  Kato  sent  China  a  note  con- 
taining five  groups,  and  then  sent  to  England  what 
purported  to  be  a  copy  of  his  note  to  China,  and 
that  copy  only  contained  four  of  the  groups  and 
omitted  the  fifth  altogether,  which  was  directly  a 
breach  of  the  agreement  contained  in  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  Alliance,  he  did  something  which  I  can 
no  more  explain  than  you  can.  Outside  of  the  ques- 
tion of  probity  involved,  his  action  was  unbelievably 
foolish."  (Quoted  by  Frederic  Coleman — The  Far 
East  Unveiled,  p.  73) 

The  Japan  Weekly  Mail,  always  more  than  friendly 
to  the  government,  baldly  stated  the  situation  in  1915: 

"If  it  is  Japan's  settled  policy  to  dominate  and 
control  China  and  to  achieve  the  hegemony  of  East- 
ern Asia,  this  appears  to  be  an  ideal  opportunity. 
The  hands  of  Europe  are  tied.  The  hands  of  the 
United  States  are  folded  in  peace.  China,  herself, 
is  important.  Europe  has  set  Japan  a  bad  example. 
What  is  Japan,  that  she  should  rise  superior  to  the 
common  level  and  show  an  unselfish  regard  for  the 
rights  of  other  nations  when  the  whole  civilized 
world  is  in  a  debauch  of  conflicting  national  ambi- 
tions and  selfishness?"  (Quoted  by  Hershey:  Mod- 
ern Japan,  p.  302) 

The  protest  of  the  American  government,  which 
since  1784  has  negotiated  forty-six  treaties  embody- 
ing the  principles  of  the  Open  Door  and  the  Terri- 
torial Integrity  of  China,  was  a  matter  of  course. 


174  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

The  main  parts  of  the  Demands  we  mentioned 
in  Chapter  V.  But  because  of  its  encroachment  upon 
England's  sphere  of  influence  in  the  Yangtze  Valley, 
the  section  bearing  upon  the  Hanyeping  Company 
calls  for  special  mention. 

The  Yangtze-Kiang  River  is  one  of  the  finest  of 
the  giant  waterways  of  the  world.  From  the  moun- 
tain fastnesses  of  Thibet,  it  flows  3,500  miles  to 
where  it  empties  770,000  cubic  feet  of  water  per 
second  into  the  Eastern  Sea.  Of  the  eighteen  prov- 
inces of  China,  it  flows  through  five  and  touches 
the  boundaries  of  another  two.  More  than  200,000,- 
ooo  souls  are  counted  in  the  population  of  this  basin 
of  700,000  square  miles.  For  ocean  going  steamers, 
the  river  is  navigable  for  1,000  miles,  for  small 
steamers  another  300  miles  and  for  junks  200  more — 
1,500  miles  of  inland  water  communications. 

"It  is  on  the  Yangtze  basin,"  remarks  a  Japanese 
official  report,  "on  account  of  its  immense  wealth 
and  variety  of  products,  that  for  the  present  and  the 
future,  will  be  centred  the  commercial  interest  of 
the  whole  world." 

Into  the  heart  of  this  great  waterway  broke  Group 
Three  of  the  Twenty-one  Demands. 

"When  the  opportune  moment  arrives,  the  Han- 
yeping Company  shall  be  made  a  joint  concern  of 
the  two  nations  (China  and  Japan),  and  without 
the  previous  consent  of  Japan,  China  shall  not  by 
her  own  act  dispose  of  the  rights  and  property  of 
the  said  company  or  of  neighboring  mines." 

This  paragraph  concerns  the  iron  and  steel  mills 


HANYEPING  COMPANY  175 

at  the  city  of  Hanyang,  which  with  Wuchang  and 
Hangkow,  form  the  upper  Yangtze  commercial  center 
with  a  population  of  1,500,000  people.  The  Han- 
yeping  Company  owns  a  large  part  of  the  Tayeh  iron 
mines,  eighty  miles  east  of  Hangkow,  with  which 
there  are  water  and  rail  connections.  The  ore  is 
sixty-seven  per  cent  iron,  fills  the  whole  of  a  series 
of  hills  500  feet  high,  and  is  sufficient  to  turn  out 
1,000,000  tons  a  year  for  700  years.  Coal  for  the 
furnaces  is  obtained  from  Pinghsiang  200  miles  dis- 
tant by  water  where  in  1913,  five  thousand  miners 
dug  690,000  tons.  Japanese  have  estimated  that 
the  vein  is  capable  of  producing  yearly  a  million 
tons  for  at  least  five  centuries.  (Frederic  Coleman: 
The  Far  East  Unveiled,  pp.  49-51) 

Thus  did  Japan  attempt  to  enter  and  control  a 
vital  spot  in  the  heart  of  China  which  for  many  years 
Great  Britain  has  regarded  as  her  special  trade  do- 
main. 

It  is  true  that  the  agreement  in  its  final  form  merely 
pledged  China  not  to  hinder  the  formation  and  opera- 
tion of  a  joint  Chinese  and  Japanese  Hanyeping 
Company,  but  the  far-reaching  plans  disclosed  in 
their  original  demands  caused  widespread  consterna- 
tion. 

Followed  by  Japan's  insistence  that  all  the  German 
rights  in  Shantung  should  be  turned  over  to  her, 
followed  also  by  ambitious  actions  in  Siberia,  these 
Twenty-one  Demands  have  been  the  signal  to 
Chinese,  and  to  foreigners  interested  in  their  own 
trade  or  the  future  independence  of  China,  for  united 


I76  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

action   against  Japan's   further  political   expansion 
on  the  mainland. 

SHANTUNG 

The  Shantung  storm  has  for  a  year  swirled  around 
Articles  156-158  of  the  Peace  Treaty.     They  read: 

Article  156. — Germany  shall  transfer  to  Japan 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  acquired  by  her 
from  China  by  virtue  of  the  Treaty  concluded 
on  March  6,  1898,  and  other  agreements  regard- 
ing Shantung,  including  the  railways,  mines 
and  cables.  All  the  rights  relating  to  the  Shan- 
tung-Tsinanfu  Railway  and  its  branch  lines 
shall  be  acquired  and  retained  by  Japan,  to- 
gether with  all  the  property,  stations,  rolling 
stock,  estate,  mines,  equipment  and  material 
required  for  mining  supplementary  to  the  rail- 
ways. Japan  shall  also  acquire  the  cables  be- 
tween Shanghai  and  Tsingtau  and  between 
Tsingtau  and  Chefoo,  together  with  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  attached  to  them,  without 
any  compensation,  and  without  incurring  ex- 
pense or  receiving  restraint. 

Article  157, — Japan  shall  acquire  and  retain, 
without  any  compensation  whatever  and  with- 
out incurring  any  expense  or  receiving  any 
restraint,  the  movable  and  immovable  property 
possessed  by  the  German  state  in  Kiaochow 
and  all  the  works  and  improvements,  and  the 
rights  naturally  to  be  insisted  on  as  the  result 
of  the  expenses  to  be  borne. 


SHANTUNG  IN  THE  PEACE  TREATY    177 

Article  158, — Germany  shall  deliver  to  Japan 
within  three  months  after  the  operation  of  the 
present  Peace  Treaty  all  the  registers,  title  deeds, 
other  official  papers  and  documents  regarding 
the  administration  of  Kiaochow,  together  with 
all  the  papers  relating  to  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges mentioned  in  the  two  preceding  Articles. 
(Japan  Advertiser,  June  14, 1919) 

The  above  award  gave  to  Japan  256  miles  of  rail- 
road, two  cables,  some  coal  mines  and  a  seaport  in 
the  province  of  Shantung.  Considering  that  China 
needs  a  hundred  thousand  miles  of  railroad,  that 
her  unmined  minerals  are  fabulous  and  that  she  can 
absorb  limitless  capital,  the  transfer  of  a  few  con- 
cessions from  an  enemy  of  China  to  a  neighbor,  if 
rightly  done,  should  not  have  aroused  excitement. 
But  in  the  background  of  Shantung,  were  Manchuria, 
Korea  and  the  1915  Demands.  China  thought  she 
saw  Japan  putting  a  circle  of  control  around  the  very 
capital  of  the  republic. 

What  actually  happened  at  Paris  concerning 
Shantung,  is  made  plain  in  a  public  statement  by 
President  Wilson  on  August  6,  1919. 

"In  the  conference  of  April  30  last,  where  this 
matter  was  brought  to  a  conclusion  among  the 
heads  of  the  principal  allied  and  associated 
powers,  the  Japanese  delegates,  Baron  Makino 
and  Viscount  Chinda,  in  reply  to  a  question 
put  by  myself  declared  that: 


i78  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

'The  policy  of  Japan  is  to  hand  back  the 
Shantung  peninsula  in  full  sovereignty  to  China, 
retaining  only  the  economic  privileges  granted 
to  Germany  and  the  right  to  establish  a  settle- 
ment under  the  usual  conditions  at  Tsingtau. 

'The  owners  of  the  railway  will  use  special 
police  only  to  insure  security  for  traffic.  They 
will  be  used  for  no  other  purpose. 

'The  police  forces  will  be  composed  of  Chinese, 
and  such  Japanese  instructors  as  the  directors 
of  the  railway  may  select  will  be  appointed  by 
the  Chinese  government.' 

"No  reference  was  made  to  this  policy  being 
in  any  way  dependent  upon  the  execution  of 
the  agreement  of  1915.  Indeed  I  felt  it  my  duty 
to  say  that  nothing  that  I  agreed  to  must  be 
construed  as  an  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  in  the  policy 
of  the  notes  exchanged  between  China  and  Japan 
in  1915  and  1918." 

(Boston  Herald,  August  7,  1919) 

Viscount  Uchida,  the  Foreign  Minister,  has  re- 
peatedly stated:  "The  Japanese  troops  will  be 
completely  withdrawn,  and  the  Railway  is  intended 
to  be  operated  as  a  joint  Sino-Japanese  enterprise 
without  any  discrimination  in  treatment  against  the 
people  of  any  nation.  The  Japanese  Government 
have  moreover  under  contemplation  proposals  for 
the  establishment  of  a  general  foreign  settlement, 
instead  of  the  exclusive  Japanese  settlement,  which 


SHANTUNG  179 

by  the  agreement  of  1915  with  China  they  are  en- 
tided  to  claim."    (Japan  Advertiser >  August  3,  1919) 

(For  conflicting  statements  by  Japanese  pub- 
lications regarding  Shantung,  see  Appendix  to 
this  chapter.) 

Japan's  hopes  of  acquiring  these  German  rights 
had  been  communicated  early  in  1917  to  all  the 
Allied  belligerent  governments. 

"The  governments  of  Great  Britain,  France, 
Italy,  and  the  government  of  Russia  then  existent, 
promptly  and  willingly  acknowledged  the  justice  of 
Japan's  claims,  and  agreed  to  support  them  at  the 
Peace  Conference."  (Viscount  Uchida  in  The  N.  Y. 
Independent ,  Jan.  3,  1920) 

This  agreement,  China  seems  not  to  have  known. 
When  in  the  spring  of  1917,  she  declared  war,  she 
notified  Germany  that  the  treaty  and  grants  forced 
from  her  in  1898  were  abrogated  and  must  therefore 
revert  to  China.  She  seemed  to  hope  without  any 
expense  to  herself  to  get  back  all  the  investments 
Germany  had  made  in  Shantung. 

The  Chinese  students  seized  upon  the  Shantung 
incident  as  an  opportunity  to  stop  Japan's  further 
aggressions  in  China  and  to  remove  their  own  corrupt 
politicians. 

Three  days  after  the  Paris  Conference  announced 
its  decision  to  allow  Japan  to  remain  in  Shantung, 
3,000  students  of  Peking  marched  to  the  home  of 
Tsao  Ju  Lin,  Minister  of  Communications  and  a 
prominent  pro-Japanese  who  has  negotiated  the 


i8o  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

many  loans  with  Japan  during  the  last  few  years. 
Tsao  left  by  the  backdoor  as  they  entered  the  front. 
But  they  caught  in  the  house  and  beat  up  Mr.  Chang 
Chung  Hsiang,  Chinese  Minister  to  Japan,  who  was 
as  pro  Japanese  as  Minister  Tsao.  Afterward  they 
burned  the  house.  From  this  began  that  strike 
against  Japan  by  the  students  of  China  which,  largely 
by  peaceful  means,  has  aroused  the  whole  nation. 

The  students  demanded  the  dismissal  of  "the 
three  traitors"  as  the  students  called  Mr.  Tsao, 
Minister  of  Communications,  Mr.  Chang,  Minister 
to  Japan,  and  Mr.  Lu,  Director  General  of  the  Cur- 
rency Reform  Bureau.  Their  anti-government 
activities  resulted  in  the  arrest  of  a  thousand  students 
in  Peking  alone.  Other  agitators,  however,  took 
their  places  and  the  movement  became  so  widespread 
and  heated  that  on  June  eighth  the  thousand  stu- 
dents were  released  and  on  June  eleventh  "the  three- 
traitors"  were  dismissed  from  office. 

A  boycott  of  Japanese  goods  was  started.  Some 
Chinese  claim  that  80%  of  the  Japanese  export 
business  to  China  has  been  stopped,  that  one  steam- 
ship company  reported  to  its  shareholders  a  loss  of 
$330,000  due  to  this  boycott,  and  that  the  movement 
for  home  industries  has  been  greatly  increased.  One 
American  firm,  it  is  asserted,  received  orders  for 
twenty  new  and  complete  cotton  mills  to  be  set  up 
in  China  in  the  next  two  years.  ( The  Nation,  Dec.  23, 
1919) 

Travellers  from  China  report  stores  selling  Japa- 
nese goods  are  going  bankrupt.  Japan's  official  re- 


THE  BOYCOTT  181 

ports,  however,  indicate  from  the  boycott  little  effect 
on  the  China  trade.  The  exports  from  Japan  to 
China  increased  from  Yen  359,150,000  in  1918  to 
Yen  447,049,000  in  1919.  The  imports  to  Japan  in- 
creased from  Yen  281,702,000  in  the  former  year  to 
Yen  322,100,000  in  1919.  There  was  a  gain  in  ex- 
ports to  China  of  24%.  (Reported  by  the  Consul 
General  of  Japan  in  New  York.) 

Only  in  South  China,  where  trade  is  small  anyway, 
the  exports  did  decrease  from  Yen  611,000  in  1918 
to  Yen  87,000  in  1919. 

The  conduct  of  Japanese  citizens  and  officials  in 
Shantung  has  been  severely  criticised.  In  the  Mis- 
sionary Review  of  the  World  for  December,  1919,  a 
correspondent  writes: 

"When  the  Chinese  labor  battalions  returned 
from  France  and  when  allotment  money  was  paid  by 
the  British  authorities  to  families  of  the  laborers, 
the  Japanese  rushed  in  large  numbers  of  prostitutes 
to  entice  the  Chinese  and  obtain  their  money  at  the 
expense  of  their  morals." 

"Hostility  to  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission, 
founded  in  Shantung  in  1863  by  Dr.  Hunter  Corbett, 
was  manifested  by  the  establishment  by  the  Japanese 
of  a  large  'red-light  district'  in  Tsingtau  across  the 
road  from  the  Mission  compound.  The  Mission  will 
probably  be  compelled  to  sell  its  property  for  a  nom- 
inal sum  and  move  elsewhere." 

On  the  other  hand  the  Berlin  Mission  Society  has 
stated: 

"In  Shantung  Superintendent  Voskamp  was  the 


i82  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

only  ordained  German  missionary  who  was  allowed 
to  remain  in  Tsingtau.  He  is  considered  a  prisoner 
and  is  not  allowed  to  write  home,  but  he  has  been 
permitted  to  conduct  the  work  of  the  Mission. 
Heathen  Japan  has  treated  her  enemies  better  than  the 
Christian  nations. " 

(The  Christian  Work,  March  6,  1920) 
Japan  seems  unintentionally  to  have  made  the 
greatest  recent  contribution  to  the  welding  together 
of  the  Chinese  people.  They  needed  a  uniting  influ- 
ence. As  recently  as  1915,  at  the  Far  Eastern  Olym- 
pics at  Shanghai,  where  athletes  had  gathered  from 
the  Philippines,  Japan  and  China,  the  Christian 
educator  Chang  Poling  remarked:  "Here  is  some- 
thing new.  Before  this  I  have  seen  Chinese  represent 
a  province,  or  the  North  or  the  South,  but  today  is 
the  first  time  I  ever  saw  students  cheering  for  China." 
From  the  heat  generated  over  the  Shantung  contro- 
versy has  arisen  a  wave  of  enthusiasm  and  sacrifice. 
Some  day,  perhaps,  China  will  thank  Japan  for  this 
stimulus  to  her  national  union. 

OPIUM  AND  MORPHINE 

The  mention  of  opium  and  morphine  in  connection 
with  China  brings  little  credit  to  the  nations  of  the 
West.  England's  head  hangs  in  shame;  the  United 
States  is  guilty;  Japan,  too,  has  joined  the  group  of 
the  disgraced.  As  I  write  I  have  before  me  from  the 
Peking  and  Tientsin  Times  of  January,  February 
and  March,  1919,  sheet  after  sheet  giving  the  printed 


OPIUM  AND  MORPHINE  183 

lists  of  250  Japanese  stores  known  to  be  selling  mor- 
phine in  Peking,  Tientsin,  and  numerous  cities  in 
Manchuria  and  Shantung.  It  only  mildly  alleviates 
the  dishonor  to  Japan  to  know  that  most  of  the  drug 
emanated  from  London,  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 
Photographs  and  other  evidence  show  that  the  pack- 
ages were  shipped  by  parcel  post  to  some  of  the  larg- 
est firms  in  Japan  and  through  them  distributed  to 
the  small  druggists  and  needle  carrying  pedlers  in 
North  China.  This  is  done  through  the  Japanese 
post  offices,  the  packages  of  which  Chinese  officials 
hesitate  to  open. 

Dr.  Wu  Lien  Teh,  one  of  the  best  known  experts, 
estimates  that  from  1916  to  1918  morphia  and  heroin 
were  imported  into  China  to  the  terrific  amount 
of  twenty  tons,  sufficient  to  give  1,000  million  injec- 
tions, and  to  poison  the  manhood  of  the  country. 
Putnam  Weale  writes:  "This  trade,  while  it  is  al- 
most entirely  handled  by  Japanese  sub-agents  and 
pedlers  in  China,  is  largely  based  on  British  export. 
Although  licenses  are  necessary  for  ordinary  trade 
export,  no  licenses  are  required  to  despatch  from 
England  by  parcel  posts  two  pounds  of  a  drug  con- 
taining 70,000  injections.  The  real  secret  of  this  ne- 
farious trade  is  that  the  manufacture  of  morphia  is 
entirely  uncontrolled  by  the  British  Government. 
And  when  petty  Japanese  officials  in  Dairen  and 
Tsingtau  are  empowered  to  issue  licenses,  accepted 
by  the  British  Government  as  justifying  export  in 
unlimited  quantity,  we  begin  to  see  what  is  behind 
this  business.  That  England  should  be  even  more 


184  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

responsible  than  Japan  for  a  continuance  of  this 
traffic  is  a  blot  on  her  fair  name  which  the  British 
Government  must  remove."  (Japan  Advertiser, 
August  5,  1919) 

Responsibility,  too,  rests  on  China.  Some  opium 
is  still  grown,  especially  where  the  military  governors 
control.  They  even  stimulate  the  traffic.  Dr.  Wu 
told  me  that  in  Kirin  the  Chinese  military  governor 
pays  his  soldiers  in  opium.  They  sell  it  to  the  mer- 
chants. Then  the  soldiers  go  out,  arrest  the  dealers, 
seize  the  opium  and  take  it  to  the  military  governor. 
He  again  uses  it  to  pay  the  soldiers. 

In  this  same  city  the  Chinese  police  knew  that 
Japanese  were  selling  morphia.  They  seized  the 
drug,  arrested  the  dealers  and  asked  the  Japanese 
consul  to  punish  them.  The  consul  complained  to 
the  Chinese  authorities  and  the  police  were  fined  for 
interfering  with  the  rights  of  trade  of  Japanese.  A 
merry-go-round  of  lawlessness  which  brings  no  credit 
to  any  participant. 

Any  one  who  has  seen  the  photographs  of  dead 
morphine  fiends  thrown  out  in  heaps  to  be  eaten  by 
dogs  can  feel  only  indignant  at  any  civilized  govern- 
ment which  does  not  honestly  and  heartily  join  the 
International  Opium  Agreement  of  1914.  Although 
this  has  never  been  approved  by  all  the  nations  and 
is  not  officially  in  force,  China  and  England  on  March 
31,  1917,  signed  a  contract  for  the  absolute  suppres- 
sion of  the  traffic.  Finally  in  the  spring  of  1919  Japan 
announced  both  in  Tokyo  and  in  Peking  that  her 
consuls  would  take  measures  to  stop  the  business 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  185 

and  apply  to  her  nationals  in  China  the  strict  penal- 
ties enforced  against  dealers  and  smugglers  in  Japan. 
Here  again  Japan  shows  the  disposition  to  follow  the 
other  nations.  Were  this  awful  drug  problem  at- 
tacked by  the  League  of  Nations  Japan  would  cer- 
tainly join  the  movement  and  do  her  part  to  suppress 
in  China  this  age-long  scourge. 

THE  MILITARY 

For  excusing  the  occasional  misconduct  of  Japa- 
nese soldiers,  officials  and  citizens  I  hold  no  brief. 
But  Japan's  reason  for  locating  numerous  military 
men  in  China  may  be  a  genuine  fear  for  her  people 
and  her  economic  holdings.  China  is  still  and  has 
always  been  an  unsettled  country.  While  Japan 
boasts  that  her  ruling  family  has  endured  unchanged 
for  2,580  years,  China,  during  4,000  years  of  substan- 
tial history,  has  suffered  twenty-six  changes  of 
dynasty.  In  1898  there  was  a  coup  d'etat  when  the 
old  Empress  Dowager  seized  the  government.  In 
1900  came  the  Boxer  Uprising.  Following  this  after 
eighteen  months  of  exile  the  fickle  Empress  Dowager 
was  again  in  the  lead.  In  1908  a  program  of  consti- 
tutional reform  was  announced,  two  years  later  the 
first  National  Assembly  met,  and  the  following  year 
there  was  the  Revolution.  It  has  been  chaos  ever 
since. 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  FOR  ASIA 

Japan  is  plainly  maneuvering  to  find  her  place  in 
Asia.  A  feeler  here,  a  new  enterprise  there.  Her 


186  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

journalists  frequently  speak  of  "Japan's  Monroe 
Doctrine  for  Asia."  Although  many  sharp  criticisms, 
notably  by  Thomas  Millard  in  Our  Eastern  Ques- 
tion, have  been  aimed  at  Japan  for  sheltering  her 
acts  under  President  Monroe's  wings,  one  may  ques- 
tion whether  when  the  smoke  has  cleared  and  the 
boundaries  are  settled  the  conduct  of  the  United 
States  on  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  the  policy 
of  Japan  in  Eastern  Asia  may  not  eventually  be  the 
same. 

"As  a  principle,"  enunciated  Monroe  in  1823, 
"  *  *  *  the  American  Continents  *  *  are  henceforth 
not  to  be  considered  as  subject  for  future  coloniza- 
tion by  any  European  power  *  *  *  We  owe  it, 
therefore,  to  candor  and  to  the  amicable  relations 
existing  between  the  United  States  and  those  powers 
and  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on 
their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of 
this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety." 

Japan  is  determined,  I  repeat,  that  Occidental 
nations  shall  make  no  further  aggressions  on  the 
western  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Her  ability  to  enforce 
this  policy  has  been  achieved  since  1904.  During 
these  sixteen  years,  while  maturing,  Japan  has  doubt- 
less said  and  done  many  immature  things.  But  she 
has  annexed  less  territory  than  the  United  States 
since  Monroe  spoke  for  us,  although  she  has  no  un- 
developed resources  comparable  to  ours.  Her  prompt 
approval  of  the  League  of  Nations  and  her  assent  to 
the  Consortium  give  clear  evidence  that  as  soon  as 


THE  CONSORTIUM  187 

fear  for  her  "economic  life  and  political  safety"  is 
removed  Japan's  policy  for  Asia  will  be  a  real  Monroe 
Doctrine. 

THE  CONSORTIUM 

At  last  a  joint  financing  of  foreign  concessions  in 
China  is  in  sight.  Since  the  Knox  proposal  in  1906 
for  the  internationalization  of  the  railways  in  Man- 
churia, many  plans  to  extricate  China  from  her  for- 
eign commitments  have  been  proposed.  For  over 
a  year  England,  France,  America  and  Japan  have 
been  considering  a  Consortium  for  pooling  through 
an  international  banking  combine  all  large  foreign 
loans  and  enterprises  in  China.  At  first  Japan  held 
off.  The  proposal  was  regarded  by  many  Japanese 
as  a  scheme  to  steal  their  rich  concessions  in  Man- 
churia, Mongolia  and  Shantung.  The  discussion 
aroused  caustic  comment  in  the  vernacular  papers. 
Said  the  Hochi: 

"It  passes  our  comprehension  why  the  rights 
which  Japan  has  acquired  by  virtue  of  treaty  should 
be  passed  over  to  such  a  private  concern." 

The  Chauvinistic  Yamato  declared: 

"The  Consortium  should  be  broken  up.  The 
diplomats  of  this  country  seem  to  feel  no  hesitation 
whatever  in  sacrificing  anything  and  everything  on 
the  altar  of  cooperation  with  the  Powers.  At  this 
rate  they  might  consent  to  abolish  our  Imperial 
House  should  America  and  France  induce  Britain  to 
declare  herself  a  republic,  and  then  come  and  demand 
a  change  in  the  national  organization  of  this  country." 


i88  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

The  usually  staid  Kokumin  adds: 

*  *  *  "If  treaties  between  Japan  and  China  were 
not  to  be  binding  without  the  sanction  of  America, 
if  Japan  were  to  abandon  her  vested  interests  at 
America's  bidding,  if  even  the  policy  of  government 
in  Korea  were  to  be  changed  to  consult  America's 
pleasure,  what  would  become  of  the  unsullied  pres- 
tige of  the  Empire  as  an  independent  Power?" 

The  Yorozu  shouts: 

"Japan  must  not  join  the  Consortium  unless  Man- 
churia and  Mongolia  be  excluded.  The  Japanese 
nation  must  absolutely  refuse  to  endorse  a  scheme 
whose  object  may  be  to  place  China  under  an 
Anglo-Saxon  administration.  In  the  name  of  liberty 
America  annexed  part  of  Mexico,  absorbed  Cuba 
and  the  Philippines  and  swallowed  up  Hawaii. 
Greater  hypocrites  than  the  Americans  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find.  China  is  now  in  danger  on  their 
account."  (Quoted  in  Japan  Chronicle^  Aug.  28, 1919) 

Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  and  prejudices 
encountered  the  consortium  agreement  has  been 
concluded.  At  one  stage  in  the  negotiations  Japan 
wished  to  exclude  "such  interests  as  might  be  nec- 
essary to  safeguard  her  economic  life  or  political 
safety."  She  finally  consented  to  forego  this  formula 
and  agreed  with  other  nations  to  pool  all  large  con- 
cessions and  public  undertakings  in  China  except 
those  that  have  already  been  developed.  Japan  thus 
preserves  her  hold  on  the  South  Manchuria  Railway, 
its  branches  and  mmes,  the  Shantung  Railway  and 
the  mines  already  being  worked.  While  it  leaves  a 


CONCLUSION  189 

free  field  for  small  industrial  undertakings,  it  pro- 
tects China  from  large  exploitation  by  any  single 
power.  A  loan  of  $250,000,000  is  to  be  negotiated 
which  will  be  paid  in  installments  of  $50,000,000  for 
the  improvement  of  Chinese  finances  and  internal 
works.  None  of  it  can  be  applied  to  military  purposes. 
Let  us  hope  that  here  ends  the  old  concession 
scramble  in  China  and  begins  the  opening  of  a  real 
Open  Door  and  Equal  Opportunity  both  for  other 
nationals  and  for  the  400,000,000  of  that  vast  Re- 
public. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Japan-China  question  is  easy  to  state  but 
more  difficult  to  settle.  Since  1868  Japanese  minds 
have  been  studying  history.  With  their  marvelous 
patriotism  born  of  an  intense  loyalty  to  the  ruling 
house  they  have  sought  the  secrets  of  national  power. 
What  they  found  the  great  nations  doing  is  exactly 
what  they  have  done.  Can  we  of  the  white  races  sit 
on  our  thirteen  millions  of  square  miles  of  annexed 
territory,  much  of  it  forcibly  conquered  and  now 
walled  in,  and  throw  stones  at  the  imitative,  ambi- 
tious Japanese?  Japan' expansion,  call  it  aggression 
if  you  like,  will  never  be  stopped  by  spattering  ink 
on  such  subjects  as  "The  Menace  of  Japan,"  "The 
Yellow  Peril"  or  "The  International  Nuisance." 
As  a  big  hearted  Britisher  said  to  me  in  Peking: 
"After  all,  the  real  crux  of  the  problem  is  England 
and  America.  If  we  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  can 
develop  real  democracy  at  home  and  establish  hon- 


190  JAPAN  AND  CHINA 

esty  in  international  dealings  abroad,  Japan  and 
China  will  follow."  Mr.  Obata,  the  much  criticised 
Japanese  minister  in  the  Chinese  capital,  expressed 
the  same  opinion.  Japan  will  watch  the  world  ten- 
dency and  conform  to  it.  Had  America  promptly  and 
generously  joined  the  League  of  Nations,  however 
imperfect  the  present  plan  may  be,  had  the  League 
begun  a  systematic,  scholarly  study  of  international 
problems,  China  would  be  safe.  As  President  Wil- 
son said  to  the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee: 
"I  have  no  doubt  that  should  China  make  complaint 
to  the  League  Council  about  Shantung,  the  Council 
would  consider  her  claim  promptly."  (Boston 
Herald,  August  20,  1919)  Speaking  in  the  Civic 
Auditorium  at  San  Francisco  the  President  restated 
his  solution  of  the  Eastern  question:  "The  League 
offers  a  tribunal  before  which  China  can  bring  her 
complaint  about  the  wrongs  she  has  suffered  for 
years."  At  another  meeting  on  the  same  day  Mr. 
Wilson  explained  more  fully:  "Under  the  League 
of  Nations  Japan  solemnly  undertakes,  with  the  rest 
of  us,  to  respect  and  protect  the  territorial  integrity 
of  China.  *  *  :e  This  is  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world  that  anything  has  been  done  for  China. 
And  sitting  around  our  council  board  in  Paris,  I  put 
this  question:  'May  I  expect  that  this  will  be  the 
beginning  of  the  retrocession  to  China  of  the  excep- 
tional rights  which  other  governments  have  enjoyed 
there?'  And  the  responsible  representatives  of  the 
other  great  governments  said:  'Yes,  you  may  ex- 
pect it.";  (New  York  Times,  September  18,  1919) 


THE  SOLUTION  191 

There  is  the  solution  of  the  whole  China  problem. 
Who  is  to  blame  for  its  delay?  The  politicians  at 
Washington  who  by  their  party  bickering  and  selfish, 
narrow  Americanism  have  held  up  our  active  func- 
tioning in  the  League  of  Nations  are  of  all  people  in 
the  world  responsible  for  China's  plight  today. 
Japan  believes  that  if  she  does  not  exploit  and  develop 
China  other  countries  will.  She  can  point  to  numer- 
ous precedents.  As  long  as  England  holds  Hongkong 
and  WTei  Hai  Wei,  as  long  as  France  possesses  300,000 
square  miles  in  South  China,  while  the  Foreign  Con- 
cessions in  Shanghai  and  Tientsin  and  the  legation 
fortresses  of  Peking  continue  to  exist,  until  China 
can  rule  herself  and  develop  her  rich  resources  her- 
self, and  until  America  opens  her  opulent  doors  in  a 
more  generous  way,  it  is  only  international  hypoc- 
risy that  demands  of  Japan  to  give  up  her  economic 
holdings  on  the  mainland  of  Asia.  With  her  growing 
power,  Japan  is  determined  that  no  other  nation 
shall  have  the  hegemony  of  that  Oriental  area.  She 
also  will  exert  her  every  force  to  make  safe  her  access 
to  markets  and  raw  materials.  Her  purpose  is  fixed. 
But  when  the  League  of  Nations  is  a  going  concern, 
when  this  world  council  can  guarantee  the  political 
integrity  of  weak  states  and  a  just  approach  for 
every  people  to  Nature's  wealth  and  human  demands, 
then  and  then  only  will  the  Japan-China  question  be 
solved. 

It  is  probably  true  that  Japan's  policy  toward 
China  wavers  with  the  changing  atmosphere  of  the 
West.  When  the  Powers  show  signs  of  establishing 


192  APPENDIX 

a  new  system  of  international  dealing  Japan  lets  up 
in  her  so-called  aggressions.  When,  on  the  other 
hand,  England  tightens  her  hold  on  Egypt  and  Per- 
sia, and  France  enters  Syria  even  though,  as  we  are 
told,  eighty  per  cent  of  the  Syrians  oppose  the  deal, 
Japan  puts  another  wedge  into  China.  On  one  point, 
however,  her  policy  never  changes.  To  state  it  is  but 
to  repeat:  Access  to  China's  minerals  and  markets 
is  an  obsession  from  which  Japan  never  will  and 
never  should  recover.  Her  method  of  gaining  this 
access  will  depend  upon  precedents  set  by  her  older 
and  more  powerful  associates.  The  Japan  in  China 
problem  is,  therefore,  up  to  us.  Japan  consciously 
or  unconsciously  has  passed  the  buck. 

APPENDIX  A 

STATEMENTS    BY    JAPANESE    PUBLIC    MEN    REGARDING 
THE  RETURN  OF  SHANTUNG 

On  the  very  day  of  the  Japanese  ultimatum  to 
Germany  in  August,  1914,  Count  Okuma  sent  a 
telegram  to  the  American  press  in  which  he  said, 
"Japan  has  no  territorial  ambitions  and  hopes  to 
stand  as  the  protector  of  the  peace  of  the  Orient." 
On  August  24,  Count  Okuma  telegraphed  to  The 
New  York  Independent  as  follows: 

"As  Premier  of  Japan,  I  have  stated  and  I  now 
state  to  the  people  of  America  and  to  the  world  that 
Japan  has  no  ulterior  motive,  no  desire  to  secure 
more  territory,  no  thought  of  depriving  China  or 
other  people  of  anything  which  they  now  possess. 


RETURN  OF  SHANTUNG  193 

My  government  and  my  people  have  given  their 
pledge,  which  will  be  as  honorably  kept  as  Japan 
always  keeps  promises." 

On  August  25,  the  Kokusai  Tsushinsha,  a  Japanese 
news  agency  with  close  official  connection  with  the 
Foreign  Office,  cabled  the  following  to  Europe  and 
America:  "On  the  highest  authority  Reuter's  cor- 
respondent is  able  to  state  that  .  .  .  Japan  will 
restore  Kiaochow  and  will  preserve  the  territorial 
integrity  of  China.  .  .  .  The  ultimatum  will  be 
adhered  to  whether  Tsingtau  is  taken  by  force  or 
otherwise." 

But  note  the  change. 

"In  December,  1914,  Baron  Kato  declared  in  the 
Diet  that  Japan  had  made  'no  promise  whatever 
with  regard  to  the  ultimate  disposition  of  what  she 
had  acquired  in  Shantung.  The  purpose  of  the  ulti- 
matum to  Germany  was  to  take  Kiaochow  from 
Germany  and  so  to  restore  peace  in  the  Orient. 
Restitution  after  a  campaign  was  not  thought  of 
and  was  not  referred  to  in  the  ultimatum. '" 

In  her  ultimatum  to  China  on  May  7,  1915  the 
Japanese  Government  declared 

"The  Imperial  Japanese  Government,  in  taking 
Kaiochow,  made  immense  sacrifices  in  blood  and 
money.  Therefore  after  taking  the  place,  there  is 
not  the  least  obligation  .  .  to  return  the  place  to 
China." 

(The  above  can  be  found  in  Hershey:  Modern 
Japan,  p.  300;  and  in  Spargo:  Russia  as  an  American 
Problem,  p.  170.) 


I94  APPENDIX 

\ 

APPENDIX  B 

Ultimatum  issued  by  Japan  to  Germany,  August 
15,  1914: 

"Considering  it  highly  important  and  necessary 
in  the  present  situation  to  take  measures  to  remove 
all  causes  of  disturbances  to  the  peace  of  the  Far 
East  and  to  safeguard  the  general  interest  contem- 
plated by  the  agreement  of  alliance  between  Japan 
and  Great  Britain  in  order  to  secure  a  firm  and  endur- 
ing peace  in  Eastern  Asia,  the  establishment  of 
which  is  the  aim  of  the  said  agreement,  the  Im- 
perial Japanese  Government  sincerely  believe  it 
their  duty  to  give  advice  to  the  Imperial  German 
Government  to  carry  out  the  following  two  prop- 
ositions: 

To  withdraw  immediately  from  the  Japanese  and 
Chinese  waters  German  men-of-war  and  armed 
vessels  of  all  kinds  and  to  disarm  at  once  those  which 
cannot  be  so  withdrawn. 

To  deliver  on  a  date  not  later  than  September  15, 
1914,  to  the  Imperial  Japanese  authorities  without 
condition  or  compensation,  the  entire  leased  territory 
of  Kiaochow,  with  a  view  of  eventual  restoration 
of  the  same  to  China.  The  Imperial  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment announce  at  the  same  time  that  in  the  event 
of  their  not  receiving  by  noon,  August  23,  1914,  the 
unconditional  acceptance  of  the  above  advice  offered 
by  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government,  they  will  be 
compelled  to  take  such  action  as  they  may  deem 
necessary  to  meet  the  situation." 


CONCESSIONS  IN  CHINA  195 

APPENDIX  C 

NON-JAPANESE  FOREIGN  CONCESSIONS  IN  CHINA 

In  a  leaflet  published  by  the  League  of  the  Darker 
Nations  of  the  World  the  reading  public  is  asked  why 
the  Chinese  at  Paris  were  so  bitter  against  Japan's 
concessions  in  China  when  no  demands  were  made 
for  the  retrocession  of  similar  concessions  by  other 
countries.  A  list  of  a  few  of  these  was  appended: 

1.  Russian-Belgian  concession  to  build  a  railway 
from  Ranchow  to  Haimon — August,  1912. 

2.  Russo-Mongolian  Treaty — November,  1912. 

3.  Belgium   secures   silver  mining  concession   in 
Hupeh  Province — January,  1913. 

4.  Russo-Mongolian  Loan  Agreement — June,  1913. 

5.  Draft  of  Chino-British  convention  concerning 
Mongolia — October,  1913. 

6.  France  acquires  concession  to  build  railways 
from  Yunnan  to  Chengto  in  Szechuan  Province — 
February,  1914. 

7.  The  Standard  Oil  Company  acquires  the  con- 
cession  to  exploit  oil  fields  in   Shensi  Province — 
February,  1914. 

8.  American  interests  reported  to  have  acquired  a 
naval  port  on  the  Fukien  Coast — February,  1914. 

9.  England  acquires  concession  to  build  railway 
from  Nanking  to  Changsha — March,  1914. 

10.  England  acquires  concession  to  build  railway 
from    Hsuchow,    Honan     Province,     to    Jengyang, 
Hupeh  Province — May,  1914. 


196  APPENDIX 

11.  France  acquires  exclusive  privilege  to  build 
railways  and  exploit  mines  in  Kwangsi  Province — 
September,  1914. 

12.  The  Russo-Chinese  Treaty  concerning  Mon- 
golia— June,  1915. 

13.  American  International  Corporation  acquires 
the  privilege  to  build  1,100  miles  of  railways  in  China 
— October,  1916. 

14.  American  International  Corporation  acquires 
the  right  to  repair  the  Grand  Canal  of  China — Octo- 
ber, 1916. 

15.  France  forcibly  seizes  a  strip  of  land  at  Tient- 
sin— October,  1916. 

1 6.  Chicago    Continental    &    Commercial    Bank 
contracts  a  loan  of  $30,000,000  to  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment— November,  1916. 

17.  American  Bankers  make  agreement  with  China 
for  a  loan  of  unspecified  amount — July,  1918. 

(Quoted  in  The  Japan  Review,  November,  1919) 


CHAPTER  X 
JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

"The  stars  and  the  sun  never  fought  in  their  courses;  so  shall 
America  and  Japan,  in  whose  flags  are  embedded  these  symbols, 
never  clash  in  their  orbits." — Viscount  Ishii 

In  Manchuria  fifteen  years  ago  nearly  every  army 
officer  I  met  remarked:  "Japan  owes  a  great  debt 
to  America.  It  was  your  Commodore  Perry  who 
roused  us  from  our  sleep  and  thus  enabled  us  to  stem 
this  Russian  tide.  America  is  Japan's  best  friend." 

The  intimate  relations  of  the  past  should  be  a 
prophecy  of  the  future.  An  intermittent  fever,  how- 
ever, of  caustic  newspaper  writing  on  both  sides  of  the 
water  reveals  a  smouldering  friction  which  ought  to 
be  squarely  faced.  An  analysis  of  the  sources  of  this 
discord  will  be  the  purpose  of  this  chapter. 

For  Japan  the  main  causes  for  anti-American  feel- 
ing are  four: 

1.  The  suspicion  that  behind  Mr.  Harriman's  pro- 
posal in  September,  1905,  to  lease  and  operate  the 
newly   acquired   Russian   Railway   in   South   Man- 
churia, and  behind  the  Knox  and  similar  plans  men- 
tioned in  Chapter  VII,  was  America's  hand  restrain- 
ing Japan  from  the  rightful  fruits  of  her  victory  over 
Russia. 

2.  The  similar  suspicion  that  in  China,  Korea  and 

197 


198  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

Siberia,  America  is  an  obstacle  to  the  free  carrying 
out  of  Japan's  policies. 

3.  The     anti-Japanese   agitation   on    the   Pacific 
Coast. 

4.  The  vicious,  continuous  repetition  in  the  Ameri- 
can press  of  war-scare  lies. 

Of  these  four,  the  first  is  past  history.  The  others 
still  remain. 

In  America,  according  to  Dr.  Nitobe,  anti-Japa- 
nese sentiment  has  seven  origins:  (i)  German  propo- 
ganda;  (2)  jealousy  of  Japan  by  British  traders  in 
China;  (3)  party  tactics  at  Washington;  (4)  the 
California  agitation;  (5)  sympathy  for  the  Koreans; 
(6)  the  hostility  of  the  Chinese;  and  (7)  the  idea  that 
Japanese  militarism  is  a  menace  to  democracy.  (Dr. 
Inazo  Nitobe,  writing  from  New  York  to  a  Tokyo 
magazine,  quoted  in  Japan  Advertiser,  July  30,  1919) 
The  first  three  may  be  dismissed  as  now  out  of  date. 
The  last  four  remain. 

Condensing  the  above  opinions  we  can  trace  the 
whole  trouble  between  America  and  Japan  to  four 
main  sources: 

i.  NEWSPAPER  PROPAGANDA 

Japanese  newspapers  in  venting  their  irritation 
at  America  have  shown  more  heat  than  logic.  A  few 
selections  will  suffice: 

The  Nichi  Nichi:  "The  real  reason  why  the  United 
States  is  sympathizing  with  China  (on  the  Tsingtau 
question)  is  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  American 
ambition.  The  fact  is  that  the  United  States  is  seiz- 


NEWSPAPER  PROPAGANDA 


199 


ing  every  opportunity  to  exclude  Japanese  influence 
from  China."       (  Japan  Advertiser,  April  20,  1919) 

The  Yamato  in  a  serial  letter  to  President  Wilson 
in  May,  1919,  attacking  him  for  the  blocking  of 
Japan's  plans  at  the  Peace  Conference,  concluded: 
"Mr.  Wilson,  if  you  do  not  reconsider  and  correct 
your  attitude,  the  real  sense  and  justice  of  the  world 
will  stigmatise  you  as  Satan." 

(Japan  Advertiser,  May  7,  1919) 

The  Chuo:  "The  League  proposal  has  been 
brought  forward  to  modify  all  the  international  agree- 
ments entered  into  before  America's  entry  into  the 
war.  In  a  word,  the  League  is  an  instrument  to  be 
used  for  fulfilling  America's  ambition." 

(Japan  Advertiser,  May  2,  1919) 

The  Yomiuri:  "America's  economic  policy  now 
is  directed  toward  the  Orient  and  it  is  her  ideal  to 
make  the  Pacific  Ocean  her  garden  pond.  America's 
activities  in  China  did  not  begin  today.  .  .  .  These 
economic  activities  have  been  extended  to  Siberia. 
.  .  .  .America  is  endeavoring  to  acquire  a  supreme 
position  in  the  world,  so  that  she  may  act  as  a  nation 
of  authority."  (Japan  Advertiser,  March  4,  1919) 

Finally,  the  Kokumin  gives  the  finishing  touch: 
"The  diplomacy  of  America  aims  at  making  Britain 
and  France  her  servants  in  Europe,  and  Japan  her 
slave  in  the  Far  East." 

(Japan  Chronicle,  August  28,  1919) 

While  Japanese  dailies  have  been  pouring  out 
unscrupulous  criticism  to  a  credulous  people,  Ameri- 
can newspapers  have  been  propagating  lies  to  a  gul- 


200  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

lible  public.  For  ten  years  they  have  been  retailing 
under  scare  headlines  a  series  of  incredible  yarns. 
Of  more  than  twenty  of  these  vicious,  enmity  pro- 
voking tales  collected  by  Dr.  Gulick  in  his  "Anti- 
Japanese  War  Scare  Stories"  I  will  speak  of  the  three 
hardest  worked. 

Magdalena  Bay  Stories 

Magdalena  Bay  is  in  the  Mexican  peninsula  called 
Lower  California.  In  1911  the  story  circulated  that 
Japan  had  bought  a  naval  base  there.  The  Hearst 
papers  insisted  that  60,000  Japanese  had  been  landed 
ready  to  strike  at  our  west  coast.  To  nail  this  rumor, 
Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan  made  an  investigation.  Of 
the  60,000  reported  by  Hearst  he  was  able  to  locate 
but  six.  They  were  all  peacefully  working  in  a  Mexi- 
can canning  factory.  The  only  foreign  land  deal  was 
by  an  American  syndicate. 

Six  years  later,  in  April,  1917,  a  letter  was  ad- 
dressed to  Congress  by  a  Californian  who  "saw  thou- 
sands of  Japanese  fishing  all  the  morning  at  Mag- 
dalena Bay,  Mexico,  and  drilling  all  the  afternoon." 
He  thought  the  number  about  4,000.  Dr.  Gulick 
followed  up  this  trail.  He  met  the  informant  who 
acknowledged  that  there  were  not  more  than  200 
Japanese  fishermen  along  the  whole  coast,  that  the 
drilling  soldiers  were  all  in  Mexican  dress,  and  that 
he  did  not  get  near  enough  to  them  to  see  their 
faces.  Thus  went  to  its  repose  the  crisis  at  Mag- 
dalena Bay. 


NEWSPAPER   PROPAGANDA  201 

Turtle  Bay 

In  January,  1915,  a  Japanese  war  ship,  the  Asama, 
in  pursuing  German  vessels,  grounded  at  Turtle  Bay. 
This  also  is  an  inlet  in  Lower  California,  400  miles 
south  of  San  Diego.  The  New  York  Herald  of  April 
1 5th  came  out  with  a  most  sensational  story  that 
the  Japanese  were  establishing  a  naval  base.  The 
writer  "saw  them  there":  five  Japanese  warships, 
six  colliers,  and  supply  ships,  4,000  Japanese  marines 
and  sailors  in  actual  occupation  of  Turtle  Bay,  the 
harbor  mined,  a  wireless  telegraph  plant  in  operation, 
patrol  ships  guarding  the  approach  to  the  harbors, 
while  armed  men  and  sixty  tons  of  ammunition  were 
being  landed. 

The  Washington  government  this  time  made  its 
own  investigation.  Commodore  Irwin  of  the  U.  S. 
Cruiser  New  Orleans  visited  Turtle  Bay.  What  did 
he  find?  The  Japanese  cruiser  aground,  a  repair 
ship  with  its  attendant  coaling  boat,  two  British 
colliers  and  four  fishing  craft.  This  little  accident 
to  a  Japanese  warship  chasing  German  raiders  some 
writers  have  been  malicious  and  childish  enough 
to  paint  as  a  deliberate  plan  to  intimidate  the 
United  States  while  Japan  was  negotiating  the 
"Twenty-one  Demands"  with  China.  Imagine 
Japan  and  Great  Britain  attempting  to  terrorize 
America  with  a  battleship  stuck  in  the  mud,  three 
coal  barges,  a  machine  shop  and  four  fishing 
smacks! 


202  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

Japanese  Troops  in  Mexico 

The  Boston  Sunday  Globe  of  January  30,  1916, 
stated:  "There  are  30,000  Japanese  in  Mexico  organ- 
ized and  ready  to  fight  at  a  moment's  notice."  In 
the  Forum  of  the  following  July,  Sigmund  Henschen 
with  more  elastic  imagination  remarks:  "The  latest 
estimates  of  our  military  authorities  show  one- 
quarter  of  a  million  Japs  in  Mexico."  What  was  the 
fact?  There  were  in  Mexico  2,737  hard-working 
Japanese,  including  165  women.  Less  than  200  had 
received  military  training. 

If  evidence  is  further  needed,  George  Kennan  has 
collected  twenty-two  similar  stories  and  Mr.  Kawa- 
kami  six  more. 

What  has  been  the  source  of  this  wild  propaganda? 
That  Teutonic  agents  were  behind  much  of  it  in  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  weaken  their  opponents  by 
embroiling  our  two  countries,  is  now  generally 
believed. 

Just  before  we  declared  war  upon  Germany  our 
efficient  secret  service  secured  possession  of  the  fa- 
mous Zimmerman  note.  In  this  the  German  foreign 
secretary  proposed  a  joint  Mexican-Japanese  attack 
upon  the  United  States,  and  promised  Mexico  her 
old  provinces  in  our  southwest  as  a  reward.  This  was 
suggested  while  we  were  still  on  friendly  terms  with 
Germany.  Since  the  German  political  representa- 
tives went  home  the  anti-Japanese  story  factory 
seems  to  have  decreased  production.  The  Ishii-Lan- 
sing  agreement  also  put  a  quietus  on  the  whole  move- 


UTTERANCES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN  203 

ment.  For  the  text  of  this  agreement  see  the  Appen- 
dix to  this  chapter.  The  newspaper  campaign  in 
Japan  is  not  likely  to  end  until  the  other  friction- 
producing  causes  are  cleared  away. 


2.  UTTERANCES  OF  AMERICAN  PUBLIC  MEN 

In  1919,  Senator  Phelan  of  California,  before  a 
large  audience  where  a  friend  of  mine  was  present, 
referred  to  Japan,  on  that  very  day  our  ally  in  the 
War,  as  "our  insulting  foe."  There  were  many 
Japanese  students  present. 

The  Senate  debate  on  the  League  of  Nations 
brought  out  unwarranted  attacks  on  Japan.  When 
the  properly  constituted  Peace  Conference  has  dis- 
posed of  the  German  rights  in  Shantung,  only  evil 
can  result  from  heaping  insults  on  Japan  by  those 
who  disagree  with  the  justice  of  the  award.  A  clever 
statesmanship  will  at  least  be  courteous. 

The  American  Legion  at  its  organization  in  Minne- 
apolis passed  three  uncalled  for  resolutions  aimed 
against  Japan.  They  proposed  abrogation  of  the 
"Gentlemen's  Agreement"  and  strict  exclusion  of 
Japanese  immigrants;  the  barring  forever  from 
American  citizenship  of  all  foreign-born  Japanese; 
and  a  constitutional  amendment  forbidding  citizen- 
ship to  children  of  parents  one  or  both  of  whom  are 
ineligible  to  naturalization.  A  similar  resolution 
was  passed  at  Cleveland  at  the  1920  annual  meeting. 
Such  narrow  "Americanism"  can  only  aggravate 
international  friction,  and  delay  the  Americanization 


204  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

of  those  within  our  gates.  Happily,  Japanese  public 
men  have  almost  invariably  maintained  their  court- 
esy when  speaking  on  international  matters. 

3.  THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA 

There  are  in  the  United  States  13,515,000  foreign 
born.  Of  these,  including  all  their  children,  125,195 
are  Japanese.  (Literary  Digest,  Oct.  9, 1920,  quoting 
statistics  of  the  Foreign  Office,  Tokyo)  More  than 
half  the  Japanese  are  in  the  State  of  California.  Here 
according  to  the  exaggerating  Mr.  McClatchy  of 
the  Sacramento  Bee,  they  number  109,000.  (N.  Y. 
Times,  Nov.  20,  1920)  The  California  Board  of 
Control  decreases  the  figure  to  86,876.  The  United 
States  Census  of  November,  1920,  which  ought  to  be 
the  final  word,  finds  only  70,196.  In  the  last  ten  years 
while  the  population  of  the  state  has  increased  from 
2,377,549  to  3,426,861,  the  Japanese  have  increased 
from  41,357  to  70,196.  Their  1.7  %  of  the  total  has 
grown  to  2%,  or  an  increase  of  3/i0  of  one  percent  in 
a  decade.  At  this  rate  the  population  of  California 
will  be  half  Japanese  in  1650  years — not  a  very  near 
disaster.  But  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 
presence  in  one  State  of  this  group  of  alien  people 
of  different  customs,  habits  and  loyalties  is  a  real 
problem. 

The  situation  was  partly  met  in  1907  by  the  so- 
called  "Gentlemen's  Agreement"  by  which  Japan 
consented  not  to  allow  laborers  to  emigrate  to  the 
United  States.  Immigration  of  Japanese  into  con- 
tinental United  States  promptly  decreased  from 


THE  CALIFORNIA  QUESTION  205 

30,326  in  1907  to  3,in  in  1909.  From  July  n,  1908, 
to  June  30,  1919,  79,738  entered  the  country  and 
68,770  returned  to  Japan,  the  net  increase  by  im- 
migration being  10,968.  (Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulickin  The 
New  York  Times,  ]u\y  14,  1920)  In  addition  to  the 
above,  an  unknown  number  have  come  in  from 
Hawaii. 

Although  some  general  charges  of  an  influx  of 
laborers  have  been  made,  no  concrete  proof  of  a 
breach  of  the  "Gentlemen's  Agreement"  in  a  single 
case  has  been  brought  forward.  (Prof.  Treat  in 
American  Review  of  Reviews,  Jan.  1920)  The  10,064 
immigrants  of  1919  were  nearly  all  transients  of  a 
superior  type. 

In  1906  there  was  a  public  stir  over  the  California 
"School  Question."  But  at  the  time  when  San  Fran- 
cisco propagandists  were  raving  over  the  evil  influence 
on  America's  future  citizens  of  immoral  Japanese 
pupils,  there  were  in  the  public  schools  of  that  city 
ninety-two  Japanese  children.  Even  these  were 
scattered  among  twenty  different  schools.  Visitors 
found  them  well  behaved  and  studious. 

Much  has  been  written  of  the  "picture  brides." 
We  have  seen  these  Japanese  young  women  crowding 
the  third  class  on  the  steamers  from  Japan.  They 
are  the  result  of  marriages  arranged  by  correspond- 
ence and  go-betweens.  Their  stability,  says  Prof. 
Ichihashi  of  Leland  Stanford,  is  very  nearly  one  hun- 
dred per  cent.  Before  a  man  is  allowed  to  send  for  a 
bride  he  must  get  the  approval  of  one  of  the  Japan 
Societies  which  exist  in  large  numbers  on  the  Coast. 


206  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

Only  men  of  decent  character  who  are  above  the 
class  of  day  laborers  are  permitted  to  make  these 
marriages.  Occasionally  an  educated  girl  of  good 
family  is  allured  by  what  seems  to  her  the  wealth  of 
her  prospective  groom.  He  has  a  little  farm,  a  store, 
a  bank  account  and  perhaps  a  Ford — all  signs  of 
affluence  in  Japan.  But  when  she  marries  she  finds 
herself  attached,  to  be  sure,  to  the  bank  account  and 
the  flivver,  but  also  to  a  man  who  proves  to  be  a 
rough,  uncouth  mate.  Months  of  hard  adaptation 
follow.  But  the  result,  says  Prof.  Ichihashi,  is  usu- 
ally the  remaking  of  the  man.  Proud  and  happy  in 
his  new  home,  he  yields  to  the  influence  of  his  treas- 
ured wife,  new  furniture  is  bought,  the  gramaphone 
plays,  new  clothes  appear,  and  refinement  wins. 
From  1912-1918  the  number  of  such  brides  arriving 
in  San  Francisco  has  averaged  658  per  year.  But 
because  of  the  anti-Japanese  outburst  in  1919  the 
Japanese  government  decided  to  stop  giving  pass- 
ports to  these  girls.  Prospective  grooms  will  in  future 
be  obliged  to  cross  the  sea  to  claim  their  mates. 

The  handling  of  the  land  question  in  California 
has  caused  serious  offense  to  the  Japanese.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1913,  forty-anti-Japanese  bills  were  introduced 
into  the  California  legislature.  These  produced  a 
fever  of  excitement  in  Japan.  In  the  following  May 
the  Heney-Webb  land  bill  was  passed.  This  pro- 
vides that  aliens  ineligible  for  citizenship  cannot  buy 
land  and  may  only  lease  land  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses for  a  term  not  to  exceed  three  years.  It  was 
a  great  blow  to  Japanese  farmers  who  in  1919  pro- 


THE  CALIFORNIA  QUESTION  207 

duced  on  the  west  coast  crops  valued  at  153,000,0x30. 
The  Referendum  Measure  which  passed  on  Novem- 
ber 2,  1920,  by  a  majority  of  nearly  three  to  one 
again  seems  to  all  Japanese  a  piece  of  grave  injustice. 
This  new  law  contains  three  main  provisions: 

(1)  It  stops  further  leasing  of  land   to  persons 
ineligible  to  citizenship. 

(2)  It  deprives  Japanese  parents  of  the  guardian- 
ship of  a  child  in  whose  name  agricultural  property 
is  held.    An  American  guardian  must  be  appointed. 

(3)  Aliens  ineligible  to  citizenship  are  forbidden 
to  purchase  stock  in  a  company  entitled  to  own 
agricultural  land. 

Land  in  California  actually  cultivated  by  Japanese 
in  1919  was  as  follows: 

Ownership  acreage 74>?69 

Tenant  acreage 383,287 


Total 458,056 

In  a  State  of  99,000,000  acres  the  74,000  owned  by 
the  Japanese  is  relatively  small.  (Report  of  the 
State  Board  of  Control,  June,  1920)  One  writer 
estimates  that  at  the  rate  they  are  acquiring  real 
estate,  the  Japanese  will  own  the  whole  State  in 
84,450  years.  (Prof.  Treat  in  American  Review  of 
Reviews,  January  1920) 

The  land  legislation  was  unjust,  impolitic  and 
unnecessary.  Our  treaty  signed  with  Japan  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1911,  stipulates:  "The  subjects  or  citizens  of 
each  of  the  High  Contracting  Parties  shall  receive 


208  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

in  the  territories  of  the  other  the  most  constant  pro- 
tection and  security  for  their  persons  and  property, 
and  shall  enjoy  in  this  respect  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  as  are  or  may  be  granted  to  native  subjects 
or  citizens."  Whether  the  California  Land  Laws  of 
1913  and  1920,  which  prevent  the  Japanese  from 
purchasing,  inheriting  or  leasing  land,  are  technically 
a  treaty  violation  or  not,  their  spirit  is  entirely  con- 
trary to  the  agreement.  The  Japanese  rightly  be- 
lieve they  have  not  had  a  fair  deal. 

In  the  decline  of  white  births  in  his  state  from  98% 
of  the  total  in  1906  to  90.6%  of  the  total  in  1917,  and 
in  the  increase  of  Japanese  babies  from  134  to  4,108 
in  the  same  period,  Senator  Phelan  thinks  he  sees  a 
prophecy  of  the  near  Japanization  of  the  West  Coast. 
(North  American  Review,  September  1919)  Some 
fearful  Californian  has  even  figured  that  if  the  present 
high  birth  rate  among  the  Japanese  keeps  up  there 
will  be  in  1963  a  total  Japanese  population  in  the 
United  States  of  2,000,000;  in  2003,  10,000,000;  in 
2063,  100,000,000.  If  this  prophet  were  a  historian 
he  would  know  that  a  little  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  the  birth  rate  of  those  Americans  who  are 
now  scarcely  reproducing  themselves  was  such  that 
had  those  families  of  twelve  and  fifteen  children  been 
maintained  the  population  of  America  would  now 
equal  the  total  for  the  whole  globe.  The  birth  rate 
fear  is  born  of  ignorance. 

Proposals  have  been  made  to  amend  the  Federal 
Constitution  providing  that  no  child  born  of  parents 
ineligible  to  citizenship  shall  be  considered  an  Amer- 


THE  CALIFORNIA  QUESTION  209 

ican  citizen.  It  has  been  even  seriously  proposed  to 
deport  all  Japanese  residents  of  this  country  without 
regard  to  their  charater  or  conduct.  The  shame  of 
such  a  suggestion  burns  deep  when  it  is  known  that 
our  court  records  are  practically  free  from  Japanese 
names.  They  are  an  industrious,  frugal,  self-respect- 
ing, law-abiding  people. 

In  refusing  in  1919  to  call  a  special  session  of  the 
State  Legislature  to  deal  with  the  Japanese  problems, 
Governor  Stephens  of  California  wisely  said:  "No 
one  disputes  the  sovereign  right  of  this  State  to  enact 
all  domestic  legislation  which  its  welfare  dictates. 
At  the  same  time,  in  this  crisis,  when  the  passions 
of  all  peoples  are  almost  at  the  breaking  point,  it 
would  be  folly  to  intensify  our  national  difficulties. 
In  a  calmer  time,  when  these  questions  shall  have 
been  disposed  of,  when  we  ourselves  shall  be  equipped 
with  definite  information  and  can  act  wisely,  the 
problem  of  the  Japanese  in  our  California  life  is  one 
that  should  yield  readily  to  the  legislative  genius  of 
our  people." 

The  problem  is  not  met  by  heaping  indignities 
upon  the  Japanese  who  are  here.  While  carrying  on 
a  nation-wide  campaign  of  Americanization  on  the 
one  hand,  on  the  other  proposals  are  made  to  shut 
out  the  people  within  our  gates  from  the  possibility 
of  becoming  Americans.  Loudly  acclaiming  that 
Japanese  are  not  assimilible,  and  then  making  laws 
to  segregate  their  children  in  schools,  to  prevent  them 
from  being  naturalized,  and  to  keep  them  from  ac- 
cumulating property  is  not  good  American  sense. 


210  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

Why  not  study  the  influence  of  Japanese  children 
in  the  schools,  the  conduct  of  the  present  citizens  of 
Japan  extraction  and  the  real  conditions  in  the  fifty 
homes  of  mixed  marriage?  The  genuine  investiga- 
tions thus  far  made  by  Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulick  and 
others  favor  efforts  to  assimilate  the  Japanese  already 
here  and  the  making  of  laws  admitting  each  year  a 
few  Japanese,  say  a  number  equal  to  five  per  cent  of 
those  who  have  already  become  citizens.  Some  plan 
like  this  would,  we  believe,  solve  the  real  problem 
here  and  remove  all  cause  of  offence  in  Japan. 

Mention  should  be  made  of  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii. 
They  number  106,000  of  the  population  of  256,000. 
While  the  birthrate  for  the  territory  is  36.7  per  1,000, 
the  Japanese  is  42.8  per  1,000.  As  the  total  of  the 
Caucasian  races  is  only  42,000,  the  Japanese  born 
citizens  seem  likely  to  control  the  political  destinies 
of  the  Islands. 

Professor  Treat,  referring  to  the  problem  in  Hawaii 
and  on  the  mainland,  adds:  "There  is  only  one  way 
out.  While  restricting  immigration  in  a  polite  and 
seemly  way  we  should  do  everything  possible  to  make 
the  Orientals  in  this  country  and  in  Hawaii  loyal 
American  citizens.  If  history  teaches  us  anything, 
it  should  help  us  to  avoid  the  creation  of  a  Poland  or 
Alsace  or  a  Korea  within  our  limits." 

When  in  1915  I  was  crossing  the  Pacific  on  a  Japa- 
nese boat  from  Seattle  there  was  a  burial  at  sea.  An 
old  Japanese  laborer  had  taken  passage,  hoping  to 
spend  his  declining  years  in  the  homeland.  But 
tuberculosis  claimed  him.  As  we  lowered  into  the 


AMERICAN  OPPOSITION  211 

sea  that  flag-enshrouded  casket,  I  wondered  what 
comforts  that  toil  worn  body  had  contributed  to  the 
people  of  my  native  land.  It  is  these  rough  laborers 
from  south  Japan  who  have  done  much  of  the  hard 
work  in  our  West.  Now  that  Japan  has  done  her 
part  to  stop  the  inflow  of  excessive  numbers  let  us 
show  our  gratitude  to  those  who  remain,  not  by 
condemning  their  ignorance  but  by  molding  their 
character  into  that  of  true  Americans. 

Prince  Yamagata,  one  of  the  Elder  Statesmen  of 
Japan,  remarked  to  Gregory  Mason:  "Of  course 
we  can  say  nothing  which  concerns  the  sovereign 
rights  of  another  nation  to  its  territory,  but  it  seems 
to  me  strange  that  a  country  such  as  yours,  which  sets 
great  store  by  the  principles  of  humanity  and  equality 
of  human  rights,  should  vary  its  treatment  of  aliens 
according  to  races."  (The  Outlook,  Sept.  3,  1919) 

4.  AMERICAN  OPPOSITION  TO  JAPAN'S  POLICIES 

Japanese-American  diplomacy  has  always  been 
conducted  in  a  courteous,  amicable  manner. 

Elihu  Root,  in  an  after  dinner  speech  in  honor  of 
Viscount  Ishii  said:  "For  many  years  I  was  very 
familiar  with  our  own  department  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
During  all  that  period  there  never  was  a  moment 
when  the  Government  of  Japan  was  not  frank,  sin- 
cere, friendly  and  most  solicitous  not  to  enlarge  but 
to  minimize  and  do  away  with  all  causes  of  contro- 
versy. ...  I  wish  for  no  better,  no  more  frank  and 
friendly  intercourse  between  my  country  and  any 


212  JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

other  country  than  the  intercourse  by  which  Japan 
in  those  years  illustrated  the  best  qualities  of  the  new 
diplomacy."  (Dr.  Treat,  A  League  of "Nations,  p.  441, 
442) 

Ambassador  Roland  S.  Morris  on  his  arrival  in 
Boston  on  June  I,  1920,  remarked:  "The  relation- 
ships between  Japan  and  this  country  are  most  cor- 
dial. In  fact,  never  has  there  been  such  a  fine  and 
friendly  feeling  between  the  nations."  (Philadelphia 
Evening  Ledger,  June  i,  1920) 

Nevertheless,  Japan's  fear  that  in  America  she  has 
a  real  hindrance  to  her  policies  on  the  Asiatic  main- 
land is  well  grounded.  This  cannot  be  smothered  in 
after-dinner  speeches.  The  situation  should  not  be 
side-stepped.  The  unselfish  policies  as  enunciated 
by  President  Wilson  are  contrary  to  the  policies  of 
a  large  group  in  Japan  today.  A  great  majority  of 
the  Japanese  still  doubt  whether  they  are  the  real 
American  policies. 

There  have  been,  we  must  acknowledge,  abundant 
grounds  for  their  suspicion  of  the  genuine  altruism 
of  the  American  people.  Our  failure,  following  the 
War,  to  act  promptly  on  behalf  of  Armenia  and  the 
unsettled  areas  in  Europe,  the  inaction  at  Washington 
and  the  utter  provincialism  of  many  prominent  legis- 
lators, the  oft-recurring  proposals  for  anti-Oriental 
legislation  and  the  confusion  of  our  policies  in  Siberia 
have  been  hard  to  understand.  Japanese  fear,  too,  lest 
the  vast  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States, 
by  foul  means  if  necessary,  may  crowd  their  com- 
merce from  its  fair  development  in  China  and  other 


WILL  THERE  BE  WAR?  213 

parts  of  Asia.  They  may  well  ask  why  we  oppose 
their  country  in  doing  to  China  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury what  we  did  to  Mexico  in  the  nineteenth,  and 
what  some  European  nations  are  still  doing.  An 
American  recently  back  from  the  East  jocosely 
answers  this  question:  "For  decades  Japan  watched 
the  European  nations  at  their  poker  games.  Finally, 
when  she  got  up  her  courage  to  go  in  and  play  too, 
the  others  all  said,  'Let's  play  parchesi.'" 

Will  there  ever  be  war  with  Japan?  For  the  pres- 
ent, No!  The  two  million  soldiers  in  Europe,  the 
sight  of  vast  ship  yards,  munition  plants  and  the 
movement  of  war  supplies  on  an  incredible  scale  have 
resulted  in  a  greatly  enhanced  respect  tinged  with 
fear  for  America.  A  week  before  the  armistice  I  was 
chatting  with  a  bright  Japanese  Colonel  on  a  station 
platform  in  the  heart  of  Siberia. 

"How  many  American  soldiers  are  in  France?" 
he  asked. 

I  returned  the  question:  "How  many  do  you 
think?" 

"About  700,000,  I  suppose." 

There  were  actually  three  times  his  estimate. 

This  story  I  told  to  a  young  Japanese  interpreter 
some  weeks  later  as  illustrative  of  the  surprise  that 
must  have  come  over  Japanese  military  men  when 
they  knew  the  facts.  My  friend  laughed  as  he  said: 

"The  colonel  didn't  really  believe  there  were  700,- 
ooo  Americans  in  France.  He  put  the  number  high 
just  to  flatter  you.  Our  officers  at  the  time,  I  used 
to  hear  them  discussing  it,  believed  that  America 


2i4  APPENDIX 

had  sent  across  350,000  men,  and  that  the  big  figures 
given  out  were  for  German  consumption.  When 
they  came  to  know  the  truth,  they  were  simply 
amazed." 

Huge  military  equipment  will  never,  however, 
create  good  relations  between  Japan  and  America. 
The  two  countries  can  be  brought  into  full  harmony 
only  by  cooperation  and  by  friendship.  The  con- 
sortium in  China  and  the  League  of  Nations  will 
develop  international  federated  effort.  A  continuous 
interchange  of  friendly  visitors  will  promote  that 
personal  intimacy  which  will  enable  the  influential 
people  of  each  country  to  meet  each  other  and  freely 
exchange  opinions.  Not  at  big  state  dinners  but  in 
informal  interviews  and  before  small  groups  where 
no  press  publicity  will  be  given,  Japanese  are  glad  to 
converse  with  great  frankness.  With  them  public 
criticism  cuts  to  the  quick,  but  private  suggestion 
is  always  welcome.  In  growing  friendships  between 
Americans  and  Japanese  we  shall  find  the  one  safe 
solution  of  all  our  problems. 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  X 

A.  Ishii-Lansing  Agreement  of  November  2,   1917 
Secretary  Lansing  to  Viscount  Ishii : 

Department  of  State 
Washington,  November  2,  1917 
Excellency: 

I  have  the  honor  to  communicate  herein  my  under- 
standing of  the  agreement  reached  by  us  in  our  recent 


ISHII-LANSING  AGREEMENT  215 

conversations  touching  the  questions  of  mutual  inter- 
est to  our  Governments  relating  to  the  Republic  of 
China. 

In  order  to  silence  mischievous  reports  that  have 
from  time  to  time  been  circulated,  it  is  believed  by 
us  that  a  public  announcement  once  more  of  the 
desires  and  intentions  shared  by  our  two  Govern- 
ments with  regard  to  China  is  advisable. 

The  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Japan 
recognize  that  territorial  propinquity  creates  special 
relations  between  countries,  and,  consequently,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  recognizes  that 
Japan  has  special  interests  in  China,  particularly 
in  the  part  to  which  her  possessions  are  contiguous. 

The  territorial  sovereignty  of  China,  nevertheless, 
remains  unimpaired,  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  every  confidence  in  the  repeated 
assurance  of  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government 
that,  while  geographical  position  gives  Japan  such 
special  interests,  they  have  no  desire  to  discriminate 
against  the  trade  of  other  nations  or  to  disregard  the 
commercial  rights  heretofore  granted  by  China  in 
treaties  with  other  powers. 

The  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Japan 
deny  that  they  have  any  purpose  to  infringe  in  any 
way  the  independence  or  territorial  integrity  of  China 
and  they  declare,  furthermore,  that  they  always  ad- 
here to  the  principle  of  the  so-called  "open  door,"  or 
equal  opportunity  for  commerce  and  industry  in 
China. 

Moreover,   they  mutually  declare  that   they  are 


216  APPENDIX 

opposed  to  the  acquisition  by  any  government  of  any 
special  rights  or  privileges  that  would  affect  the  in- 
dependence or  territorial  integrity  of  China  or  that 
would  deny  to  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  any  country 
the  full  enjoyment  of  equal  opportunity  in  the  com- 
merce and  industry  of  China. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  have  Your  Excellency  confirm 
this  understanding  of  the  agreement  reached  by  us. 

Accept,  Excellency,  the  renewed  assurance  of  my 
highest  consideration. 

(Signed)  ROBERT  LANSING 

His  Excellency  Viscount  KIKUJIRO  ISHII,  Ambassa- 
dor Extraordinary  and  Plenipotentiary  of  Japan, 
on  Special  Mission. 

B.  Letter  from  Premier  Hara 

Official  Residence  of  the  Premier 
Kojimachiku,  Tokyo 

May  29,  1919 
My  dear  Mr.  Gleason: 

It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  see  you  here  the  other 
day,  and  hear  of  the  efforts  you  made  ever  since  your 
arrival  in  this  country  in  fostering  the  amicable  rela- 
tion between  your  country  and  my  own,  as  well  as 
of  the  impressions  produced  upon  you  during  your 
recent  journey  through  Siberia  and  Korea.  It  is  not 
an  easy  task  for  a  stranger  to  engage  upon  any  work 
in  a  strange  land,  not  to  speak  of  the  difficulty  in 
acquiring  the  language,  yet  with  singleness  of  purpose 
and  ceaseless  devotion  to  the  cause  you  have  es- 


PREMIER  HARA'S  LETTER  217 

poused,  you  have  achieved  considerable  success  in 
giving  effect  to  the  noble  end  you  had  in  view,  and 
now  on  the  eve  of  your  departure  for  your  homeland 
after  nearly  twenty  years  stay  in  our  midst,  you  may 
with  pride  look  upon  the  fruits  of  your  onerous,  yet 
successful  work,  which,  I  assure  you,  will  go  a  long 
way  towards  consolidating  the  bond  of  amity  and 
good  will  now  uniting  our  two  countries. 

Being  always  pleased  to  see  anything  done  towards 
bringing  about  better  understanding  between  Amer- 
ica and  Japan,  I  am  happy  to  convey  to  you  hereby 
the  expression  of  my  deep  appreciation  of  the  single- 
minded  efforts  you  have  thus  put  forward  in  the 
interest  of  our  two  countries. 

I  Am 

Yours  truly, 

(Signed)  HARA 
Mr.  George  Gleason 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  YMCA. 
Osaka 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

"The  present  and  all  that  it  holds  belongs  to  the  nations 
and  the  peoples  who  preserve  their  self-control  and  the  orderly 
processes  of  their  governments;  the  future  to  those  who  prove 
themselves  true  friends  of  mankind." — President  Wilson 

The  secrets  of  the  future  have  their  roots  in  the 
past.  Can  we  find  in  history  a  key  to  unlock  the 
doors  of  future  Japan?  The  Imperial  Rescript,  the 
Magna  Carta  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  promulgated 
by  the  sixteen  year-old  Emperor  at  his  Restoration 
to  power  in  1868,  gives  the  hint  we  seek: 

1.  An  Assembly  widely  convoked  shall  be  estab- 
lished, and  all  affairs  of  State  decided  by  impartial 
discussion. 

2.  All  administrative  matters  of  State  shall  be 
conducted  by  the  cooperative  efforts  of  the  governing 
and  the  governed. 

3.  All  the  people  shall  be  given  opportunity  to 
satisfy  their  legitimate  desires. 

4.  All   absurd   usages   shall   be   abandoned,   and 
justice  and  righteousness  shall  regulate  all  actions. 

5.  Knowledge  and  learning  shall  be  sought  for 
all  over  the  world,  and  thus  the  foundations  of  the 
imperial  polity  be  greatly  strengthened. 

For  fifty-two  years  these  Five  Articles  have  steered 
the  Ship  of  State.  True  to  Article  One,  the  Constitu- 

218 


KEY  TO  THE  FUTURE  219 

tion,  after  twenty-one  years  of  study,  was  finally 
adopted  in  1889,  and  the  Diet  convened  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  For  thirty  years,  it  must  be  admitted, 
this  Parliament  has  been  little  more  than  a  debating 
society  where  the  Government's  policies  were  "dis- 
cussed." The  "Government"  was  the  little  group 
of  Elder  Statesmen  like  Saigo,  Okubo,  I  to,  Matsu- 
kata,  Yamagata,  Inoue,  Okuma,  Katsura,  and  Tera- 
uchi,  who  made  every  important  decision.  Mean- 
while the  younger  generation  was  getting  its  training. 
How  marvelously  successful  this  policy!  Instead 
of  the  abrupt  change  from  autocracy  to  pure  democ- 
racy, which  we  have  seen  so  disastrously  attempted 
in  the  empires  of  the  Manchus  and  the  Czar,  Japan 
has  made  a  gradual  evolution.  From  the  dictator- 
ship of  the  Shogun  she  has  passed  through  the  rule 
of  a  little  group  of  oligarchs,  until  now  she  is  emerg- 
ing through  the  Hara  regime  of  semi-democracy  into 
the  real  rule  of  the  people.  A  party  leader  as  premier, 
the  extension  of  the  franchise  in  March,  1919,  the 
vigorous  demand  for  universal  male  suffrage  in  the 
spring  of  1920,  the  evident  desire  of  the  government 
to  give  power  to  the  people  as  fast  as  they  are  edu- 
cated to  its  use,  all  point  along  the  democratic  road. 
From  the  rule  of  the  one  through  the  rule  of  a  group 
to  the  rule  of  all;  for  this  her  compulsory  universal 
education  has  well  prepared  Japan.  What  nation 
has  made  such  progress  with  so  little  anguish  and 
friction  ? 

Will  the  people  be  satisfied  with  this  slow  advance? 
It  is  conceivable  that  a  dramatic  change  may  suddenly 


220  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

take  place  and  the  genuine  authority  of  the  people 
in  political  matters  be  established.  The  movement 
will,  however,  probably  be  gradual.  Power  will  be 
fought  for  and  through  the  conflict  for  possession 
there  will  be  developed  the  capacity  for  use,  which 
could  not  be  gained  in  any  other  way. 

Of  the  "absurd  usages"  mentioned  in  Charter 
Article  Four  many  doubtless  still  remain.  But  the 
experiences  on  returning  home  of  every  one  who  has 
visited  long  in  Japan  is  the  same.  Dear  old  America 
and  England  have  their  absurd  usages  too.  Japan 
by  comparison  is  not  so  bad. 

"Knowledge  and  learning  shall  be  sought  for  all 
over  the  world."  Witness  the  stream  of  students 
which  for  forty  years  has  flowed  to  every  civilized 
land,  and  the  foreign  magazines  and  books  which 
flood  the  stores.  If  "blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit" 
means  that  prosperity  comes  to  open  minds,  Japan 
is  fulfilling  the  prophecies  of  Holy  Writ. 

If  anyone  is  apprehensive  about  the  future  of  Japan 
he  should  bear  in  mind  these  three  points  growing 
out  of  the  Five  Promises  of  the  young  Meiji  Tenno: 
Democracy  is  still  evolving,  foolish  customs  are  being 
abolished,  and  the  acquisitiveness  of  the  nation 
makes  Japan  always  open  to  molding  influences  from 
abroad.  These  are  the  keys  of  the  future.  Let  us 
study  some  details: 

i.  ECONOMIC 

"From  earth  to  heaven  at  one  bound"  was  the 
heading  in  a  Japanese  newspaper  describing  the 


ECONOMIC  221 

marriage  of  a  merchant's  widow  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  This  paragraph  might  receive 
the  same  title.  From  poverty  to  wealth  during  four 
years — this  is  the  economic  story  of  Japan.  Finan- 
cial flurries  like  that  of  the  spring  of  1920  will 
occur,  but  they  will  only  temper  the  economic 
advance. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  Japanese  writers  were  sadly 
mourning  their  country's  plight.  The  great  national 
debt  of  a  thousand  million  dollars  was  mounting  and 
the  crowding  population  gaining  at  the  rate  of  over 
700,000  a  year.  Australia,  New  Zealand,  South 
Africa,  Canada,  and  America  were  closed  to  emi- 
grants. Only  seventeen  per  cent  of  the  mountainous 
islands  are  under  cultivation.  None  of  the  soil  is  rich 
sea  bottoms  like  that  of  China  or  America,  but  sandy 
products  of  old  shales  and  granites  requiring  the  most 
intense  and  persistent  fertilizing.  Three  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  persons  to  the  square  mile,  while  in  fertile 
California  there  were  only  twenty.  A  national  wealth 
of  thirty  billion  dollars,  while  at  that  time  England's 
was  eighty  and  America's  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven.  Six  years  ago  through  excess  of  imports  and 
payment  of  interest  on  foreign  loans  the  Empire  was 
running  in  debt  during  prosperous  peace  times  at 
the  rate  of  Yi  80,000,000  a  year.  Only  an  excess  of 
exports  could  save  the  country  from  bankruptcy. 
Redemption  has  finally  come.  The  War,  while  lead- 
ing the  West  to  bankruptcy  has  freed  Japan.  Her 
excess  of  exports  in  the  four  years  1915-1918  was 
Yen  1,408,068,000.  This  does  not  include  the  sale 


222  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

of  government  munitions,  the  figures  of  which  some 
place  even  higher  than  the  above.  All  her  foreign 
loans  can  now  be  met. 

National  Foreign  Debt,  Dec.  31,  1917.  ..  .¥1,370,207,000 

(Japan  Year  Book) 
Municipal  Debts,  March,  1916 191,359,000 

(Japan  Year  Book,  1919,  p.  624) 
Company  Debts,  1912 151,250,000 

(Japan  Maily  May  4,  1912) 

¥1,712,816,000 

In  July,  1918,  Japan's  credit  account  abroad  was 
Yi, 500,000,000  (Japan  Year  Book,  1918,  p.  618),  or 
almost  enough  to  liquidate  her  whole  foreign  obliga- 
tions. If  we  add  to  these  foreign  credits  the  ¥285,- 
190,000  increase  in  gold  at  home  made  up  to  the  end 
of  November,  1918,  we  find  more  than  enough  to 
clean  the  whole  account.  (Japan  Advertiser,  Dec.  29, 
1918)  Furthermore,  total  gold  holdings  of  the  Em- 
pire on  January,  1920,  were  ¥1,950,000,000  or  suffi- 
cient to  pay  all  foreign  bills  and  still  leave  ¥250,000,- 
ooo  in  the  banks. 

Japan  during  the  War  has  approximately  doubled 
her  manufacturing  capacity,  paid  for  the  factory 
machinery,  and,  as  shown  above,  has  gold  collateral 
for  all  her  outside  debts.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at 
that  her  bankers  and  merchants  look  with  confidence 
to  the  future? 

Remembering  that  Japan  has  more  than  enough 
to  pay  her  creditors,  compare  her  finances  with  the 
debts  in  the  West: 


FINANCE  223 

Italy $10,359,275,000 

Austria-Hungary...   25,731,619,000 

United  States 26,194,997,000 

France 34,842,993,000 

United  Kingdom. ..    37,769,000,000 

Germany 40,000,000,000 

Japan 1,233,859,000  (foreign  and 

domestic) 
(World  Almanac) 

Where  can  one  now  find  a  sounder  national  fi- 
nance? 

(i)  Foreign  Trade 

Toted  Imports  and  Exports 

1890 Yen  138,332,000 

1900 491,691,000 

1905 810,057,000 

1910 922,622,000 

1913  (before  the  War)..      1,361,891,000 

1916 1,883,896,000 

1917 2,638,816,000 

1918 3,630,244,000 

1919 4,271,000,000 

Noticing  the  steady  pre-War  growth,  amounting 
to  an  increase  of  ten  times  in  the  twenty-three  years 
1890-1913  and  remembering  Japan's  nearness  to  the 
huge  markets  of  the  Asiatic  mainland,  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  Federal  Export  Corporation  of  New 
York  may  well  say:  "Japan,  commercially,  hasn't 
even  started  yet."  (Quoted  in  Japan  Advertiser, 
March  10,  1918) 


224  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

(2)  Growth  of  Steamship  Companies 

July,  1014  Sept., 

Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha 251,900  tons        418,000  tons 

Osaka  Shosen  Kaisha 50,000    "  218,000    ' 

Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha 72,000    "  96,000    ' 

The  total  tonnage  of  Japanese  steam  and  sailing  vessels 
In  1903  was  less  than  1,000,000 
In  1914  2,090,269 

In  1920  nearly  3,000,000 

Compared  with  the  merchant  marine  of  46  ships  and 
17,494  tons  in  1871  this  is  truly  a  remarkable  growth. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  the  tonnage  entering  and 
leaving  Japanese  ports  was  2,000,000.  In  1915,  it 
was  27,000,000. 

(3)  Postal  Savings 

March,  1915       Dec.,  1918          Dec.,  1919         May,  1920 
Deposits... ¥191,504,182    ¥554,984,729    ¥689,245,991    ¥749,875,390 
Depositors.      11,978,864         19.238,395         21.957.659         23,011,788 

In  the  Post  Office  Bank  alone  depositors  doubled 
and  deposits  quadrupled  in  five  years.  This  speaks 
distinctly  of  the  prosperity  among  the  common 
people. 

(4)  Railroads 

Government  railways  control  6,040  miles  and 
private  roads  1,820.  This  total  of  7,860  compared 
with  the  266,381  in  the  United  States  seems  small. 
But  by  contrast  with  China's  6,467  miles  among  a 
population  seven  times  as  great,  Japan  is  well  to 
the  front.  The  crowded  condition  of  trains  can  be 


TRANSPORTATION  AND  FINANCE  225 

imagined  from  the  100%  increase  since  1914  in  the 
passenger  traffic.  Fares  have  been  doubled.  (Japan 
Chronicle y  Feb.  5,  1920)  Improvements  are  con- 
stantly being  made.  Where  traffic  is  heaviest  four 
tracks  are  already  laid  and  plans  for  six  have  been 
announced. 

(5)  Banks  and  Insurance 

There  were  in  1916,  2,143  banks  with  3,731 
branches.  The  deposits  amounted  to  Yen  3,816,- 
476,000.  (Japan  Year  Book,  1918)  In  my  city, 
Osaka,  the  banking  business  grew  in  four  years  as 
follows: 

1914.  1918 

No.  banks  and  branches                    107  158 

Paid-up  capital ¥49,113,862  ¥115,692,500 

Deposits ¥232,705,750  ¥1,323,102,790 

Loans ¥315,891,280  ¥1,148,616,289 

Bills  of  Exchange ¥3,001,303,055  ¥17,800,399,540 

A  gain  of  400  or  500  per  cent! 

In  1917  the  insurance  companies  numbered  40  Life, 
22  Fire,  17  Marine,  17  others.  The  life  insurance 
companies  carried  1,849,000  policies  valued  at  Yi,- 
130,346,000;  while  the  fire  companies'  policies  num- 
bered 1,109,000  with  a  face  value  of  ¥1,808,753,000. 

(6)  Conclusion 

Pre-War  estimates  of  Japan's  economic  status 
are  already  hopelessly  antiquated.  In  one  of  the 
most  scholarly  recent  books  (Contemporary  Politics 


226  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

in  the  Far  East,  p.  174),  Stanley  K.  Hornbeck  esti- 
mated in  January,  1916,  that  the  national  debt  of 
Japan  weighed  upon  her  citizens  eight  times  as  heav- 
ily as  that  in  the  United  States.  While  the  per  capita 
wealth  of  Japan  ($363)  was  only  one  fourth  that  of 
the  United  States  ($1525),^  debt  per  capita  in  the 
former  country  ($20)  was  twice  that  of  the  latter 
($10).  But  notice  the  change.  While  the  debt  of 
the  United  States  has  in  five  years  increased  twenty- 
six  times,  Japan's  has  actually  decreased.  The  tables 
are  entirely  reversed. 

Although  the  cost  of  living  in  the  Island  Empire 
has  risen  nearly  200  per  cent,  and  the  price  of  rice, 
the  staple  food,  more  than  trebled,  wages  in  most 
cases  have  met  the  advance. 

With  figures  like  these  before  us,  often  rising  into 
the  billions,  with  her  forests  of  smoking  chimneys, 
with  her  steamers  plying  every  sea,  with  her  great 
firms  reaching  out  for  raw  products  and  trade  in 
every  land,  and  with  two-thirds  of  the  undeveloped 
resources  of  the  earth  in  the  lands  bordering  the  ocean 
in  which  her  islands  lie,  an  economic  place  in  the  sun 
is  assured  for  Japan. 

2.  SOCIAL 

In  the  report  prepared  in  the  summer  of  1918  for 
the  Federated  Missions  Conference  at  Karuizawa, 
the  opening  paragraph  reads: 

"The  convincing  facts  regarding  social  conditions 
in  Japan  today  must  rouse  decision  to  meet  these 
vast  problems  with  new  methods  and  a  new  zeal. 


SOCIAL  227 

The  doubling  of  factories  in  the  last  four  years,  with 
their  army  of  laborers,  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
morally  ill-prepared  young  women  thrust  out  into 
commercial  and  industrial  life,  and  the  confessed 
irreligion  of  the  industrial  workers  of  the  nation  is 
the  first  appeal.  The  destitute  families,  30,700  in 
Tokyo  alone;  growing  out  of  this  destitution  the 
slavery  of  little  girls;  the  81,000  persons  who  die 
yearly  from  preventable  tuberculosis;  the  56,000 
languishing  in  prisons,  and  the  1,200,000  Eta  bring 
another  group  of  appeals.  Finally,  the  growth  in 
the  consumption  of  alcohol,  which  in  two  years  in- 
creased twice  as  much  as  in  the  previous  eight,  and 
the  vast  army  of  nearly  100,000  publicly  licensed 
prostitutes  and  geisha  for  whose  degrading  service 
the  nation  is  paying  ¥54,500,000  a  year,  make  us 
question  whither  we  are  tending.  For  every  even 
nominal  Christian  in  our  churches  the  government 
has  licensed  one  active  woman  of  evil  influence  to 
tear  down  what  we  are  building  up." 

(i)  Labor 

Industrially,  Japan  is  rushing  pell  mell  into  the 
same  social  maze  from  which  England  and  America 
are  trying  to  extricate  themselves.  In  thirty  years, 
factory  laborers  have  increased  from  25,000  to  2,500,- 
ooo.  The  country  has  been  changed  from  an  agrarian 
to  an  industrial  State.  The  demands  of  the  urban 
factories  have  been  such  that  even  three  years  ago 
an  Osaka  paper  printed  a  cartoon  of  a  foreman 
standing  on  a  hill  overlooking  all  Japan  shouting 


228  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

through  his  megaphone:  "To  Osaka,  to  Osaka!" 
Men  and  women  have  been  attracted  by  the  thou- 
sands, even  from  Korea.  The  man  consumption  of 
the  big  industrial  plants,  by  absorbing  surplus  popu- 
lation, has  temporarily  if  not  permanently  silenced 
the  plea  for  territorial  expansion. 

The  long  hours  of  labor,  regularly  eleven  in  cotton 
mills  and  fourteen  and  even  sixteen  in  the  silk  mills, 
the  low  wages,  the  lack  of  care  of  employees,  have  de- 
veloped a  restlessness  which  has  broken  out  in  strikes 
and  sabotage.  As  Government  and  industrial  leaders 
have  poured  abroad  since  the  signing  of  the  Armis- 
tice, the  solution  of  the  problem  will  doubtless  be 
similar  to  that  worked  out  in  Europe  and  America. 

Why  a  paternal  government  like  Japan  should 
wait  for  the  evils  of  child  labor,  woman's  labor,  long 
hours,  unsanitary  factories,  congested  houses  and 
slums  to  show  themselves  has  been  a  puzzling  ques- 
tion. But  this  seeming  lack  of  foresight  is  plainly 
due  to  the  conviction  that  the  people  can  be  sacrificed 
for  the  nation.  The  government  late  in  the  last  cen- 
tury looked  out  upon  the  world  and  saw  the  necessity 
of  gaining  material  wealth.  Hence  the  seeming  dis- 
regard of  the  exploitation  of  labor.  Subsidies  have 
been  given  to  the  great  shipping  companies,  and 
favors  shown  to  cotton  mills  and  such  industrial  and 
commercial  houses  as  Mitsui,  Mitsubishi,  Kuhara, 
Okura,  and  Sumitomo.  Now  Japan  is  a  creditor 
nation  and  the  surplus  population  has  been  cared 
for,  the  Government  is  turning  its  attention  to  the 
welfare  of  the  working  man. 


SOCIAL  229 

"Will  there  be  a  revolution?"  is  a  question  fre- 
quently asked.  Professor  Dewey  replies:  "My  own 
confidence  in  the  resilience,  adaptability,  and  prac- 
tical intelligence  of  the  Japanese  people,  as  well  as 
in  a  kind  of  social  democracy  which  is  embodied  in 
their  manners  and  customs,  makes  me  think  the 
change  will  come  without  a  bloody  and  catastrophic 
upheaval."  (The  Dialy  Nov.  i,  1919) 

(2)  Prostitution 

Prostitution  is  the  great  blot  on  Japanese  morals. 
The  fact  of  50,000  licensed  prostitutes  (not  including 
geisha)  in  the  segregated  districts  of  the  Empire, 
the  fact  of  one  licensed  prostitute  to  every  259  male 
residents  in  Tokyo,  to  every  130  in  Osaka,  and  to 
every  47  at  Yamada,  the  seat  of  the  Ise  Shinto  Shrine, 
shows  how  deeply  intrenched  this  vice  is.  Hardly  a 
city  on  the  Asiatic  Coast  of  the  Pacific  has  escaped 
the  invasion  of  the  procurers  of  these  poor  semi-slave 
girls.  It  is  estimated  that  26,360  Japanese  women 
are  living  as  prostitutes  outside  their  own  land. 
(Brown:  Mastery  of  the  Pacific,  p.  381) 

Three  times  in  Osaka  and  once  in  Tokyo  an  organ- 
ized fight  against  the  "system"  has  been  made  and 
the  developing  popular  opinion  will  ere  long,  we  be- 
lieve, forever  end  government-allowed  prostitution. 

(3)  Charity  and  Relief 

The  Red  Cross  claims  a  membership  of  1,758,051. 
It  spent  in  1916  three  million  yen  and  owns  property 
valued  at  ¥34,305,000.  Including  hospitals,  orphan- 


23o  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

ages,  nurseries,  reform  homes,  and  various  relief 
institutions,  there  are  nearly  700  charity  organiza- 
tions in  the  Empire.  In  1914,  the  government  recog- 
nized the  worth  of  117  charitable  institutions  by 
granting  a  small  amount  of  State  aid.  The  whole 
movement  for  social  service  has  been  greatly  influ- 
enced by  the  work  of  missionaries. 

(4)  The  Woman  Question 

A  cultured  Japanese  woman  is  one  of  the  finest 
representatives  of  her  sex.  Lafcadio  Hearn  would 
tell  us  that  she  is  the  product  of  many  centuries  of 
oppression.  The  jump  from  the  teaching  of  the 
Japanese  moralist  Kaibara  (1630-1714)  to  the  present 
is  a  wide  one.  In  The  Greater  Learning  for  Women, 
he  sums  up  the  womanly  and  wifely  virtues  as  fol- 
lows: "It  is  the  chief  duty  of  a  girl  living  in  the 
parental  house  to  practice  filial  piety  toward  her 
mother  and  father,  but  after  marriage  her  chief  duty 
is  to  honor  her  father-in-law  and  mother-in-law,  to 
honor  them  beyond  her  own  father  and  mother,  to 
love  and  reverence  them  with  all  ardor,  and  to  tend 
them  with  every  practice  of  filial  piety.  .  .  .  She 
must  look  to  her  husband  as  her  lord,  and  must  serve 
him  with  all  worship  and  reverence,  not  despising 
or  thinking  lightly  of  him.  The  great  life-long  duty 
of  a  woman  is  obedience." 

Under  the  old  Japanese  law  a  woman  could  not 
herself  demand  a  divorce,  become  head  of  a  house, 
hold  property,  contract  in  her  own  name,  or  even 
become  the  guardian  of  her  own  child.  But  under 


SOCIAL  231 

the  new  civil  code,  a  married  woman  may  hold  prop- 
erty in  her  own  name,  and  she  may  seek  a  divorce 
from  her  husband  for  bigamy,  adultery,  or  such 
treatment  as  makes  living  together  unbearable,  and 
for  various  other  causes. 

Young  couples  are  breaking  away  from  the  old 
homes  and  where  they  can  afford  it  setting  up  their 
own  establishments.  Many  parents  even  seek  to 
marry  their  daughters  not  to  the  influential  eldest 
son  of  another  family  where  the  duties  will  be  onerous 
and  the  life  bound  by  custom  but  to  the  younger 
sons,  deliberately  sacrificing  social  standing  to  greater 
freedom  for  individual  development. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  first  successful  breach  of 
promise  suit  was  won  by  a  woman.  Married  in  April, 
1911,  Miss  Hide  Nogawa  was  divorced  the  very  next 
month  "owing  to  some  estrangement  between  her 
husband  and  the  go-between  for  the  marriage."  After 
dragging  the  suit  through  three  courts  she  finally 
obtained  damages  for  Y2o,ooo,  "the  court  thus 
setting  a  precedent  for  similar  cases  in  the  future." 

In  1917  The  Yomiuri  newspaper  in  Tokyo  pub- 
lished a  brochure  describing  no  less  than  sixty-five 
different  occupations  in  which  women  were  engaged. 
Besides  the  million  female  operatives  in  factories 
(the  official  figure  for  1916  was  636,699 — Japan 
Year  Book,  1918,  p.  303),  the  Tokyo  daily  found 
4,000  working  for  the  Government  Railway  and 
6,000  in  the  Tobacco  Monopoly  Bureau.  Women 
are  working  in  the  banks,  at  the  telephones,  in  the 
retail  stores,  and  at  the  typewriter.  Women  journal- 


232  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

ists,  women  novelists,  and  women  doctors  and  social 
workers  are  rapidly  increasing. 

Add  to  the  above  the  westernizing  process  going 
on  among  the  men,  the  elevating  influence  of  Christ- 
ianity, and  the  reports  of  the  extension  of  women's 
suffrage  in  Europe  and  America,  and  it  becomes 
plain  that  emancipation  of  women  in  Japan  is  not 
far  away.  The  rise  of  women  to  equality  with  men 
while  slower  than  in  the  West  is  now  in  sight. 

3.  EDUCATION 

The  Diet  of  1919  voted  ¥44,000,000  for  new  col- 
leges and  professional  schools.  The  Emperor  added 
Yio,ooo,ooo  more,  and  it  is  expected  that  localities 
will  contribute  ¥20,000,000,  making  a  new  fund  of 
¥74,000,000  all  for  higher  education  for  men.  Thus 
Japan  lays  the  foundation  for  an  intelligent  future. 

Government  reports  state  that  in  1916  of  the 
children  legally  under  obligation  to  go  to  school, 
99%  of  the  boys  and  98%  of  the  girls  were  actually 
in  attendance.  Universal  education  of  elementary 
grade  is  achieved  in  Japan. 

In  the  same  year,  8,540,000  pupils  were  enrolled 
in  the  schools  and  colleges.  Of  these  7,450,000  were 
in  the  elementary  grades.  Of  the  remaining  million, 
the  secondary  schools  claimed  250,000;  the  technical 
high  schools  and  colleges  more  than  500,000;  while 
the  balance  were  in  the  public  and  private  univer- 
sities and  miscellaneous  schools. 

A  comparison  with  America  shows  that  while  our 


EDUCATION  233 

population  is  only  double  that  of  Japan,  our  schools 
enroll  23,854,890.  Of  these  20,560,701  are  in  elemen- 
tary grades,  and  1,611,196  in  secondary  schools.  We 
seem  to  have  less  in  the  technical  high  schools  and 
many  times  more  in  colleges  and  universities. 

While  even  in  the  remote  country  districts  of  Japan 
there  are  elementry  schools  sufficient  to  accommo- 
date all  scholars,  and  every  family  is  watched  to  see 
that  the  children  enter  and  finish  the  required  six 
years,  the  secondary  schools,  colleges  and  universi- 
ties are  far  too  few.  In  the  country  as  a  whole,  of 
applicants  to  secondary  schools  forty  per  cent  are 
rejected  for  lack  of  accommodation.  To  some  of 
the  best  government  schools  of  this  grade  the  appli- 
cants are  eight  or  even  ten  times  the  number  that  can 
matriculate.  In  1915,  of  those  who  applied  to  the 
eight  university  fitting  schools  (the  so-called  "Higher 
Schools")  only  21.73%  were  admitted.  For  the 
Tokyo  school  those  who  passed  the  stiff  examinations 
were  only  15.57%.  This  of  course  means  that  a 
student  who  gets  by  the  three  entrance  examinations 
of  the  secondary  and  higher  schools  and  the  univer- 
sity is  a  selected  man.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, that  the  graduates  of  the  Imperial  Universities 
rise  to  positions  of  national  leadership.  The  four 
Imperial  Universities  in  1916  graduated  2,402  Mas- 
ters of  Art  or  scholars  of  similar  grade. 

Critics  of  Japan's  schools  say  that  they  are  theo- 
retical, and  do  not  prepare  for  life.  Until  a  year  or 
two  ago  even  in  the  higher  schools,  political  discus- 
sions were  taboo  and  attendance  of  students  in  their 


234  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

uniform  at  political  meetings  was  forbidden.  John 
Dewey  stigmatizes  the  lower  grades  as  "the  most 
incredibly  reactionary  system  of  primary  education 
the  world  has  ever  known."  (The  Dial,  Oct.  4,  1919) 
The  system  is  one  for  all  Japan.  Children  are  fed 
into  the  machine,  ground  through  the  unbending  cur- 
riculum and  turned  out  with  little  opportunity  for 
individual  variation.  Experiments,  even  in  private 
schools,  have  been  largely  suppressed. 

In  a  recent  backward  looking  report  by  the  Special 
Committee  on  Education  appointed  by  the  govern- 
ment, we  find  the  key  to  a  conservative  future.  (A 
summary  can  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  this  chap- 
ter.) To  appreciate  its  real  significance,  one  should 
read  this  remarkable  document  standing  in  the  roar- 
ing machine  shop  of  some  Japanese  technical  school. 
The  Island  Empire  is  on  the  one  hand  introducing 
bodily  modern  science  and  industrialism  and  on  the 
other  hand  attempting  to  preserve  "immutable  and 
unaffected"  the  "ideals  of  national  organization 
and  national  morality."  It  is  an  impossible  propo- 
sition. But  the  result  will  be,  the  writer  believes, 
the  development  of  a  powerful  modern  nation,  true 
to  the  best  in  itself  and  elective  of  the  best  from  the 
other  nations  of  the  world.  Call  her  reactionary  if 
you  will,  criticise  the  unprogressive  language  of  this 
post-War  educational  commission,  but  remember  that 
in  this  seeming  return  to  the  past  Japan  is  with  care 
storing  up  for  the  use  of  the  West,  when  we  are  hum- 
ble enough  to  turn  to  the  East  with  open  minds,  the 
treasures  of  twenty-six  centuries  of  unbroken  history. 


MILITARY  235 

4.  ARMY  AND  NAVY 

Until  the  League  of  Nations  is  a  going  concern,  un- 
til England  and  America  take  the  lead  in  reducing 
armaments,  until  the  nations  of  Europe  give  suffi- 
cient evidence  of  intention  to  play  the  international 
game  by  the  new  rules  of  unselfishness,  sympathy  and 
racial  justice,  Japan  will  strengthen  her  military 
power  on  land  and  sea  as  rapidly  as  her  exchequer 
will  stand.  To  her  army  and  navy  Japan  owes  her 
rise  as  a  world  power.  When  her  progress  on  the 
mainland  was  threatened  in  1894  by  China,  it  was 
her  military  forces  that  saved  her.  They  rescued  her 
again  from  the  Russian  Bear  in  1904-05.  The  vic- 
tories of  Port  Arthur,  Mukden,  and  Tsushima  put 
Japan  on  the  map.  Pragmatically,  the  mailed  fist 
has  worked.  Japan  will  take  no  chances.  Her 
army  has  grown  from  a  standing  force  of  less  than 
a  hundred  thousand  twenty  years  ago  to  over 
200,000  men. 

The  Navy,  which  after  the  China  War  in  1898  con- 
sisted of  162,181  tons,  jumped  in  1905  at  the  close  of 
the  Russian  War  to  370,000  tons  (Japan  Weekly  Mail, 
Jan.  20,  1906)  and  in  1917  to  650,000  tons.  (Japan 
Year  Book  1918  p.  419)  According  to  newspaper 
reports  naval  authorities  are  proposing  215  new 
vessels  to  be  built  in  the  next  seven  years  at  a  cost 
of  ¥764,000,000.  Of  these  seventy-five  are  to  be 
submarines.  In  the  proposed  budget  for  1920  of  a 
total  of  ¥1,275,944,000,  one  half  or  ¥619,496,000  is 
recommended  for  the  Army  and  Navy. 


236  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

5.  CHARACTERISTICS 

The  celebrated  Prince  of  Mi  to  had  cast  for  the 
members  of  his  household  a  number  of  small  brass 
images  of  farmers  in  their  working  clothes,  which, 
placed  on  their  food  trays  while  they  ate,  reminded 
them  of  the  toil  of  those  who  provided  them  with 
food. 

As  my  wife  and  two  children  were  one  day  walking 
up  the  hill  from  the  railroad  station  to  my  house  near 
Osaka,  a  Japanese  gentleman  with  a  large  parcel 
caught  up  with  them  and  asked  them  to  stop.  He 
put  his  bundle  on  the  ground  and  took  out 
presents  for  each  of  the  children.  He  was  an  entire 
stranger. 

Coming  home  from  church  one  Sunday  six  years 
ago,  we  rode  between  stations  on  the  crowded  Tokyo 
express.  As  the  children  got  off  the  train  a  Japanese 
handed  my  youngest  daughter  a  basket  of  beautiful 
apples.  As  I  had  to  ride  on  further  I  spoke  to  the 
man  and  found  that  he  was  a  Japanese  settler  in 
southern  California  and  had  been  home  to  Okayama 
for  a  visit. 

At  Dairen  during  the  return  of  the  troops  from 
the  Russo-Japanese  War  my  little  girl,  three  years 
old,  was  out  walking  with  her  nurse.  She  carried  in 
her  hand  a  small  Japanese  flag.  A  company  of  sight- 
seeing troopers  came  walking  by.  When  the  captain 
spied  the  little  American  child  waving  a  Japanese 
flag,  he  halted  his  men,  ordered  them  to  salute  and 
marched  on. 


CHARACTERISTICS  237 

Dr.  Nitobe  says  that  a  Japanese/^*?/.?  like  a  woman 
and  thinks  like  a  man. 

A  Tokyo  newspaper,  The  Yorodzu,  says  that  the 
Peace  Conference  has  revealed  six  defects  in  Japan's 
civilization:  (i)  Lack  of  the  understanding  of  democ- 
racy; (2)  ignorance  of  the  value  of  labor;  (3)  doubt- 
ful capacity  for  colonial  administration;  (4)  lack  of 
sympathy  for  the  causes  of  the  war;  (5)  weakness 
of  the  spirit  of  racial  competition;  (6)  lack  of  improve- 
ment in  commercial  morality. 

Dr.  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie,  on  leaving  Japan, 
gave  as  some  of  his  permanent  impressions  of  the 
country:  (i)  The  extraordinary  courtesy  and  atten- 
tion of  his  audiences;  (2)  the  eagerness  for  informa- 
tion; (3)  their  intellectual  curiosity;  (4)  mental 
alertness;  (5)  efficiency;  and  (6)  devotion  to  the  Im- 
perial Houses. 

What  are  the  characteristics  in  her  people  which 
will  influence  future  Japan?  I  should  answer:  (i) 
Alertness  to  discover  the  secret  of  all  kinds  of  power; 
(2)  sound  judgment  in  selecting  the  best  from  all 
the  world;  (3)  reticence,  or  the  ability  not  to  talk 
too  much  but  to  listen;  (4)  diligence,  or  the  absolute 
lack  of  laziness;  (5)  love  of  nature;  (6)  cheerfulness 
and  optimism;  (7)  respect  for  authority;  and  (8) 
a  wonderful  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  State. 
This  last  has  almost  entirely  eliminated  bribery  in 
government  affairs  and  kept  the  common  people 
contentedly  following  the  lead  of  the  builders  of  the 
Empire. 


238  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

6.  RELIGION 

Will  Japan's  72,000  Buddhist  temples  and  120,000 
Shinto  Shrines,  the  former  served  by  50,000  and  the 
latter  by  15,000  priests,  furnish  the  moral  leaven 
for  her  high  speed  economic  development  and  world 
expansion?  The  problem  has  been  well  expressed 
by  Professor  John  Dewey: 

"Japan  is  trying  an  impossible  experiment.  .  .  . 
While  it  has  borrowed  wholesale  the  entire  scientific 
and  industrial  technique  of  the  West,  with  extra- 
ordinary toughness  and  tenacity  it  has  managed 
somehow  to  conserve  the  feudal  and  even  barbaric 
morals  and  politics  of  the1  warrier.  But  no  nation  can 
enduringly  live  a  double  life;  Japan  shows  every- 
where the  strain  of  this  split."  (The Dial, Oct.  4, 1919) 

Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer  once  said:  "The  Japanese  are 
the  one  Asiatic  people  capable  of  assimilating  Western 
civilization  and  doing  the  same  things  Western  nations 
have  done.  At  the  same  time  she  has  preserved  her 
racial  integrity  and  a  part  at  least  of  her  old  manners." 

With  Bushido,  the  Way  of  the  Knight,  which  has 
made  those  splendid  old-style  Japanese  gentlemen, 
with  the  moral  code  of  Confucius,  with  the  philosophy 
of  the  twelve  Buddhist  sects,  and  with  the  intense 
nationalism  of  Shinto,  Christian  evangelism  must 
take  account.  Missionaries  who  wish  to  more  than 
scratch  the  surface  will  delve  into  the  life  and  spirit 
of  old  Japan  eager  to  preserve  what  is  true  and  uni- 
versal and  determined  to  unite  the  Christian  truth 
with  any  vital  life  they  may  find. 


RELIGION  239 

Christianity  has  already  made  a  deep  impress  on 
the  nation.  Including  Greek  and  Roman  Catholics 
there  are  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  communicants. 
But  outside  the  church  membership  there  are  thou- 
sands, some  would  say  hundreds  of  thousands,  who 
are  approaching  the  Christian  standards.  Even  the 
non-Christian  religions  are  feeling  the  influence. 
Buddhist  "YMCA's,"  as  one  society  was  called, 
and  Buddhist  Sunday  Schools,  prayer  meetings,  and 
preaching  services  are  springing  up. 

While  we  must  admit  that  there  are  no  signs  of  a 
mass  movement  towards  the  Christian  church,  every 
missionary  and  Japanese  Christian  will  insist  that 
some  day  Christ  will  claim  Japan  as  His.  But  whether 
the  process  will  be  only  by  a  tearing  down  of  the  old 
religions  and  the  building  of  a  new  Christian  church, 
or  the  slower  Christianizing  of  the  religions  already 
there  until  centuries  hence  they  will  deliberately  join 
the  Christian  fold,  who  can  tell?  At  present  both 
processes  are  going  on.  In  either  case  let  friends 
of  Japan  remember  the  words  of  the  Master: 
"Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

7.  WORLD  EXPANSION 

"No  nation  has  the  right  to  set  up  special  interests 
against  the  interests  and  benefits  of  mankind." 

—President  Wilson 

An  English  teacher  new  to  Japan,  wishing  to  start 
some  interesting  conversation,  asked  his  class: 
"What  is  needed  to  make  Japan  great?"  A  student 
promptly  raised  his  hand,  and  when  called  on  re- 


240  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

plied:  "Sir,  Japan  already  is  the  greatest  nation  in 
the  world." 

Lord  Elgin,  when  leaving  Japan's  shores  after  the 
conclusion  of  his  Treaty  and  one  year  prior  to  her 
opening  to  the  world  in  1859,  described  Japan  as 
"a  land  with  a  perfectly  paternal  Government,  a 
perfectly  filial  people;  a  community  entirely  self- 
supporting;  peace  within  and  without;  no  want;  no 
ill  will  between  classes.  This  is  what  I  find  in  Japan 
in  the  year  1858  after  two  hundred  years'  exclusion 
of  foreign  trade  and  foreigners.  Twenty  years  hence 
what  will  be  the  contrast?"  (Quoted  by  Joseph  H. 
Longford  in  The  Nineteenth  Century ,  July,  1919) 

In  a  little  more  than  one  generation  Japan  has 
converted  herself  from  an  international  zero  into 
an  acknowledged  World  Power.  From  a  population 
of  33,000,000  and  a  territory  of  136,000  square  miles, 
in  fifty  years  she  has  grown  to  77,000,000  people 
occupying  260,738  square  miles. 

In  1920  the  population  of  Japan  proper  was  55,961,140 

Formosa 3*654,398 

Saghalien 105,765 

Korea 17,284,207 


Total 77,005,510 

The  area  of  Japan  is  148,756  square  miles 

Korea  84,173 

Formosa  and  other 
provinces  27,809 

Total  260,738 


WORLD  EXPANSION  241 

Almost  bankrupt  at  times,  she  now  is  financially 
among  the  strongest  nations.  For  a  time  torn  by 
internal  discord  and  ruled  by  a  bureaucratic  and 
narrow-minded  aristocracy,  she  is  evolving  a  strong 
centralized  government  on  modern  constitutional 
principles.  Her  people  are  fully  conscious  of  their 
constitutional  rights  and  expert  in  the  most  advanced 
scientific  attainments  of  Europe.  Patriotism  and 
restless  ambition  still  drive  them  on.  Her  ships  roam 
every  sea,  her  traders  have  their  shops  in  every  land. 
At  no  future  international  table  will  her  seat  be 
empty.  From  a  study  of  the  past  and  the  present,  her 
future  expansion  seems  as  sure  as  the  rising  of  the  sun. 
The  only  anxious  question  we  need  ask  is:  Will  it  be 
bloody  or  peaceful?  There  are  grounds  for  fear. 
Military  men  with  feverish  zeal  have  been  studying 
the  causes  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations.  Army  offi- 
cers of  the  General  Staff  have  been  hungrily  reading 
and  translating  works  on  international  politics.  Too 
many  books  from  the  West  have  told  them  that  the 
only  road  to  national  greatness  is  through  military 
force.  " After  victory  tighten  the  helmet  strings" 
wrote  one  of  their  great  heroes.  This  they  did  after 
every  great  war  and  they  are  doing  it  now.  Homer 
Lea  has  pointed  out  how  Japan  has  been  intrenching 
herself  in  the  East  from  the  ice  of  the  Arctic  circle 
to  the  fiery  heat  of  the  equator.  Her  guns  watch  the 
coast  of  all  Asia.  Saghalin  and  Hokkaido  on  the 
north  guard  the  approaches  to  Kamchatka  and  the 
rich  Amur  Basin.  Korea,  Port  Arthur  and  Tsingtau 
control  she  entrances  to  the  vast  undeveloped  wealth 


242  THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 

of  northern  China.  Kyushu  and  Formosa  look  out 
on  the  Yangtse  Valley  and  the  approaches  to  Hong- 
kong and  Canton;  while  in  the  Marshall  and  Caro- 
line Islands  are  the  bases  of  power  in  the  southern 
seas.  Surely  Nippon  has  been  a  worthy  student  of 
the  old  international  game. 

But  Japan  is  not  a  leader  of  world  militarism.  She 
is  not  a  pioneer.  She  is  simply  an  apt  pupil  of  the 
West;  and  may  I  say  the  Anglo-Saxon  West?  To 
the  British  Empire  and  America,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, she  looks  for  her  cue.  These  two  nations, 
which  together  number  half  the  people  of  the  world, 
control  one-third  of  the  land  and  own  two-thirds  of 
the  wealth — to  these  two  nations  Japan  looks.  Let 
them  clearly  demonstrate  that  their  international 
relations  are  to  be  guided  not  by  the  millions  of  tons 
of  armored  ships  "of  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  air, " 
but  by  the  forces  of  the  mind  and  the  heart,  and 
Japan  will  stand  by  their  side  and  not  be  a  menace 
to  Asia  but  a  blessing  to  the  world. 

But  the  writer  would  be  untrue  to  his  deepest 
convictions  if  he  did  not  add  that  the  planting  of  the 
spirit  and  teachings  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  Japa- 
nese leaders  is  the  only  final  guarantee  of  a  safe 
future  for  Japan.  Let  the  following  chapter  bear 
witness! 


EDUCATION  243 

APPENDIX 

Summary  of  the  Report  of  the 
Government  Committee  on  Education 

(From  The  Japan  Advertiser,  Feb.  22,  1919) 

"Our  Empire  is  founded  solely  on  the  virtues  of 
the  Sovereign;  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the  Ruler 
for  the  weal  of  the  proletariat  forms  the  essential 
principle  for  the  administration  of  the  country.  .  .  ; 
the  successive  sovereigns  have  built  our  national 
organization  on  the  foundation  of  loyalty  to  the 
state  and  of  filial  piety,  treasuring  the  martial  spirit 
and  at  the  same  time  attaching  the  highest  import- 
ance to  the  life  of  the  people;  the  relation  of  the  Im- 
perial Family  with  the  people  is  a  natural  outcome 
of  the  sense  of  duty  binding  the  Ruler  and  his  sub- 
jects, and  of  affection  uniting  the  father  with  his 
children."  This  has  given  birth  to  "the  beautiful 
habit  of  one-minded  loyalty  to  the  Imperial  Family 
and  of  obedience  to  the  parent."  Then  follows  a 
historical  statement  of  the  granting  of  the  Constitu- 
tion by  the  Emperor  Meiji. 

"The  facts  as  here  enumerated  should  be  most 
carefully  borne  in  mind." 

"For  strengthening  the  people's  veneration  and 
adoration  for  our  national  policy,  the  beautiful  habit 
of  piety  towards  Deities  and  ancestors  is  necessary 
to  be  preserved  and  its  general  diffusion  encouraged. 
....  The  worship  of  Deities  and  ancestors  is  in- 
separably connected  with  the  Family  System  of  this 


244  APPENDIX 

country  which  constitutes  immutable  and  permanent 
national  custom.  The  example  set  by  the  Imperial 
Family  of  pious  devotion  to  the  Deities  and  ancestors 
and  of  the  act  of  worship  consecrated  to  them  has 
never  suffered  even  the  slightest  change  since  the 
time  of  the  birth  of  our  national  institutions.  So 
also  with  the  people  of  all  classes,  the  custom  of  wor- 
shipping the  spirit  of  the  ancestors  is  universally 
observed.  ...  It  would  be  most  necessary  to  direct 
the  attention  to  adequately  preserving  the  dignity  and 
solemnity  of  the  Temples  commensurate  with  their 
sacred  associations,  and  to  universally  educating  the 
people  on  the  true  meaning  of  religious  ceremonies  and 
also  to  elevating  the  status  of  the  Shinto  Priesthood." 

Then  follows  the  suggestion  that  there  should  be 
established  a  course  of  study  in  the  Imperial  Univer- 
sity to  learn  how  to  teach  "  the  history  of  our  national 
organization"  and  the  basis  of  "our  national  polity." 
An  exhortation  to  simplicity,  loyalty,  obedience  to 
law,  and  the  promotion  of  nation-wide  concord  as  of 
one  big  family  is  followed  by  a  paragraph  regretting 
the  luxurious  tendencies  of  the  time. 

Other  paragraphs  suggest  that  Laws  and  Treaties 
that  have  tended  to  break  down  the  Family  System 
should  promptly  be  revised.  Government  officials, 
public  servants,  the  rich  and  the  nobility  should  be 
admonished  to  restrain  their  habits  of  luxury  and 
cultivate  simplicity.  "Materialism  must  be  scrupu- 
lously guarded  against."  In  relations  with  foreign 
Powers,  "international  morality  should  be  most 
scrupulously  observed." 


EDUCATION  245 

In  the  social  readjustments  following  the  rapid 
industrial  and  commercial  development  of  the  Em- 
pire, every  effort  should  be  made  to  promote  "social 
harmony,  especially  between  labor  and  capital." 

And  finally,  we  get  the  essential  attitude  of  the 
vasy  majority  of  Japanese  educators  today: 

"In  these  progressive  times  it  is  foolish  to  cling 
obstinately  to  the  old  things  and  in  keeping  pace 
with  progress  of  the  world  it  is  necessary  to  import 
and  adopt  such  foreign  ideas  as  may  be  found  to  be 
beneficial  and  useful.  .  .  .  But  at  the  same  time  the 
utmost  care  must  be  exercised  against  the  tendency 
of  attaching  importance  to  anything  new  merely 
because  of  its  newness.  .  .  .  New  ideas  should  be 
studied,  but  precaution  must  be  exercised  in  giving 
publicity  to  the  results  of  the  studies  or  on  lecturing 
them  before  young  students." 

"Teachers  of  religion  of  all  sects  and  denomina- 
tions should  contribute  to  the  work  of  promoting 
national  morality.  ...  by  propagating  the  doctrines 
characteristic  of  their  respective  creeds." 

The  legislation  of  this  country  "is  based  upon  the 
ideal  of  our  national  organization  and  the  funda- 
mental principle  that  our  national  morality  shall  be 
immutable  throughout  the  ages  and  remain  un- 
affected even  in  the  slightest  degree." 


CHAPTER  XII 
CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

"So  long  as  the  Sun  shall  warm  the  earth  let  no  Christian 
be  so  bold  as  to  come  to  Japan;  and  let  all  know  that  the  King 
of  Spain  himself,  or  the  Christian's  God,  or  the  Great  God  of 
all,  if  he  violates  this  command,  shall  pay  for  it  with  his  head." 

Thus  read  the  notice  boards  posted  from  1650  to 
1873  in  villages  and  by  roadsides  all  over  Japan.  In 
1918  behold  the  change!  The  Christian  church,  in- 
cluding Roman  and  Greek  Catholic,  enrolled  232,929, 
and  was  served  by  4,516  Japanese  and  1,480  foreign- 
ers. Half  the  members  and  three-fourths  of  the 
workers  are  Protestants.  An  occasional  traveler 
doubts  the  genuineness  of  the  Japanese  Christian's 
faith.  The  following  stories  may  remove  such  doubt: 

HAMPEI  NAGAO 

The  evening  of  February  22,  1919,  at  Vladivostok. 

It  had  been  a  winter  of  international  confusion. 
Seven  nations  were  watching  each  other.  Japan  was 
nervous.  The  presence  in  Siberia  of  two  hundred 
American  railroad  engineers,  1 80  Red  Cross  workers, 
a  score  of  Publicity  Bureau  men,  100  YMCA  sec- 
retaries, and  8,000  soldiers — what  could  it  be  but 
camouflage  for  some  big  commercial  deal  with  Russia? 
Americans  questioned  the  motive  of  Japan's  expedi- 

246 


NAGAO  247 

tion  of  72,000  soldiers.  The  British  regretted  that 
President  Wilson's  policy  had  not  been  different. 
The  French  were  financing  the  Czechs,  60,000  men 
without  a  country.  Italy,  on  general  principles,  put 
her  fingers  in  the  pie.  China  was  watching  to  see 
that  nobody  stole  North  Manchuria,  and  Russia  was 
in  civil  war. 

Out  of  this  international  chaos  a  gleam  of  order 
appeared.  Over  in  Tokyo  "conversations"  had  been 
carried  on,  that  resulted  in  a  service  plan,  finally 
proposed  by  Japan,  for  the  cooperative  operation  of 
the  Trans-Siberian  Railroad.  The  responsibility 
was  to  reside  in  a  Technical  Board  of  eight  engineers, 
one  from  each  of  the  countries  that  had  soldiers  in 
Siberia.  John  F.  Stevens  of  Panama  Canal  fame  was 
to  be  the  chairman.  From  Japan  came  Hampei 
Nagao,  a  fearless  Christian  layman.  On  his  first 
night  in  Siberia  we  took  supper  together. 

"I  didn't  want  this  job,"  he  said.  "There  is  too 
much  international  politics  in  it.  But  my  govern- 
ment would  not  let  me  resign.  I  have  come  over  to 
work  with  Mr.  Stevens.  You  know  him.  Is  he  a 
Christian  ?  Because  if  he  is,  I  will  go  and  have  prayer 
with  him,  and  then  I  am  sure  that  all  of  our  problems 
can  be  solved." 

Due  not  a  little  to  the  fine  Christian  spirit  injected 
into  that  committee  by  this  Japanese  engineer,  four 
months  later  Roland  Morris,  the  American  Ambas- 
sador to  Japan,  was  able  to  say  to  a  group  of  Osaka 
business  men:  "Every  decision  of  that  Technical 
Board  has  been  unanimous." 


248  CAN  JAPANESE   BE  CHRISTIANS? 

Mr.  Nagao  is  one  of  the  leading  Christians  of  the 
Empire.  He  is  a  great  advocate  of  temperance  and 
of  church  union.  When  in  charge  of  the  Kyushu 
Division  of  the  Government  Railroad  he  induced 
6000  of  the  8000  employees  to  sign  the  pledge.  While 
living  at  Moji  Mr.  Nagao  looked  over  the  city  and 
found  several  little  denominational  churches  strug- 
gling for  their  existence.  He  started  a  movement 
for  union,  organized  and  raised  the  money  for  the 
institutional  building  of  one  central  church.  At  any 
convention  of  Christian  workers  which  he  attends 
there  is  always  a  warm  discussion  of"  Church  Union." 

He  is  now  one  of  the  six  head  directors  of  the  gov- 
ernment railways  of  Japan,  occupying  a  civil  position 
second  only  to  the  Premier  and  the  members  of  his 
Cabinet. 

HONOURABLE  SOROKU  EBARA,  M.  P. 

Seventy-eight  years  old,  for  the  twenty  years 
1890-1910  a  Member  of  Parliament,  elevated  to  a 
seat  in  the  House  of  Peers  in  1912,  founder  and 
president  of  the  Azabu  Boys'  School  of  Tokyo,  Mem- 
ber of  the  Higher  Educational  Council,  decorated  in 
1915  by  the  Emperor  for  his  services  to  education, 
the  Honorable  Soroku  Ebara  stands  out  as  the  great 
Christian  Samurai  of  modern  Japan. 

His  soldierly  bearing,  preserved  these  fifty  years 
since  his  pre-Restoration  campaigns,  his  combination 
of  Bushido  sternness  and  Christian  love,  his  racy 
anecdotes  drawn  from  an  immense  store  of  thrilling 
experiences,  and  his  keen  knowledge  of  human  nature, 


EBARA  249 

combine  to  make  him  a  lecturer  and  evangelist  much 
sought  after.  Were  he  not  so  devoted  to  his  school 
he  could  spend  all  his  time  responding  to  invitations 
for  religious  addresses.  The  fact  that  he  is  a  layman 
and  a  publicist  gives  his  preaching  especial  force. 

An  illustration  of  his  capacity  for  work  and  of  the 
wide  audience  which  he  reaches  may  be  gathered 
from  a  ten  days'  spring  schedule  which  included 
seven  baccalaureate  sermons,  two  educational  lec- 
tures, and  addresses  at  a  church  and  a  Sunday  School 
Convention. 

A  YMCA  president,  he  is  also  indefatigable  in 
serving  the  temperance  movement  and  the  peace 
societies  and  in  supporting  the  work  of  his  own 
church.  At  a  supper  given  by  the  Tokyo  Association 
to  celebrate  Mr.  Ebara's  elevation  to  the  House  of 
Peers,  he  told  the  following  anecdote,  which  illus- 
trates both  his  humor  and  his  democratic  spirit: 

"There  is  no  denying  that  people  pay  special 
respect  to  a  member  of  the  Upper  House.  Members 
of  both  Houses  receive  first  class  passes  (white  tickets) 
on  the  railways,  but  when  I  was  a  plain  member  of 
the  Lower  House,  the  police  and  the  train  guards 
just  made  a  grudgingly  civil  bow,  whereas  now  they 
get  down  on  their  marrow  bones.  Even  when  I  had 
a  white  ticket  I  was  accustomed  to  ride  with  the 
blue  ticket  (second)  or  the  red  ticket  (third  class) 
common  people,  for  I  am  one  of  them.  One  time  I 
was  on  a  train  with  a  number  of  M.P.'S.  They  all 
rode  in  the  first-class  compartment,  while  I  got  into 
the  third.  At  Shizuoka  as  we  all  got  off,  I  noticed 


2So  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

with  just  a  flutter  of  jealousy  that  there  were  twenty 
policemen  lined  up  to  welcome  the  members  of  Par- 
liament in  the  first-class,  while  I  was  left  unnoticed. 
One  man  was  shown  particular  attention  and  I  said 
to  myself,  'That's  because  he's  a  relative  of  so  and 
so.'  But  later  I  learned  that  the  police  had  been 
detailed  to  arrest  him  on  a  charge  of  taking  bribes, 
and  I  reflected  that  it  was  better  to  ride  on  a  red 
ticket  and  wear  a  white  heart  than  ride  on  a  white 
ticket  and  wear  a  red  convict's  uniform." 

Mr.  Ebara  is  verily  one  of  Japan's  grand  old  men, 
an  Imperial  democrat,  one  of  God's  noblemen. 

TOYOHIKO  KAGAWA 

Travelers  in  Japan  who  wish  to  see  where  for  more 
than  a  decade  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  been 
literally  lived  should  visit  Toyohiko  Kagawa  at  his 
little  settlement  house  in  the  slums  of  Shinkawa, 
Kobe.  It  was  in  1911,  two  years  after  his  graduation 
from  the  theological  seminary,  that  I  first  met  him. 
My  little  eight  year  old  daughter  went  to  sing  at 
his  children's  Christmas  in  a  tent  on  a  vacant  lot 
among  the  really  poor  of  the  great  seaport.  The 
Christmas  tree,  the  gifts,  the  candy  and  the  songs 
of  the  little  flaxen-haired  American  child  made  Christ- 
mas the  real  thing  to  two  hundred  tangle-headed, 
thinly  clad,  sore-eyed  girls  and  boys. 

Kagawa  San  started  life  as  the  son  of  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Osaka  Shosen  Kaisha,  now  one  of 
the  big  steamship  companies  of  the  East.  Through 


KAGAWA  251 

fast  living  and  speculation  his  father  lost  the  fortune 
of  the  old  and  wealthy  family.  An  older  brother 
dissipated  what  was  left.  A  rich  uncle  took  the  boy 
and  placed  him  in  a  middle  school  from  which  he 
graduated  sixth  in  his  class.  But  the  lad,  eager  for 
knowledge,  sought  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  H.  W. 
Myers,  the  missionary  who  baptized  him  two  years 
before  he  finished  school.  After  commencement, 
Kagawa  announced  to  his  uncle  that  he  was  going 
to  be  a  Christian  minister.  Without  delay  he  was 
thrown  out  penniless.  A  classmate  who  had  been 
converted  in  the  same  English  Bible  class  kept  him 
for  a  week,  and  after  that  Dr.  Myers  took  him  to 
his  home  as  his  boy.  At  the  Presbyterian  College 
in  Tokyo  and  later  in  the  Methodist  Seminary  in 
Kobe,  he  studied  until  his  graduation  in  1909.  Later 
he  spent  three  years  in  America  at  Princeton.  Ka- 
gawa's  real  touch  with  the  poor  came  during  an  attack 
of  tuberculosis  when  he  left  school  and  went  to  live 
in  the  hut  of  a  poor  fisherman.  He  says,  "There  was 
a  tragedy  of  sin  in  every  house  in  that  seaside  village." 
After  recovering,  he  returned  to  school,  and  the 
Christmas  before  his  graduation  went  to  live  in  a 
horrible  little  room  in  the  slums.  Let  Dr.  Myers 
tell  the  story: 

'  We  felt  that  in  giving  him  permission  to  go  there 
we  were  signing  his  death  warrant,  but  he  would 
take  no  refusal.  He  lived  on  $1.50  per  month  and 
the  rest  of  the  money  given  for  his  support  and  all 
else  he  got  his  hands  on  went  to  help  the  poor  and 
suffiering  about  him.  He  gave  away  all  his  clothes 


252  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

except  what  he  had  on  his  back,  and  to  provide  for 
somebody  who  was  hungry  he  often  went  without 
a  meal.  We  continued  to  keep  a  change  of  clothing 
for  him  at  our  home  where  he  could  not  give  it  away, 
and  did  our  best  to  keep  him  from  starving  himself. 
Strange  to  say,  this  heroic  treatment  under  the  bless- 
ing of  God  cured  his  disease.  He  was  preaching  day 
and  night,  visiting  and  nursing  the  sick,  studying 
and  writing  during  these  years,  and  doing  the  work 
of  six  ordinary  men. 

"He  is  one  of  the  leading  figures  of  the  religious 
world  in  Japan.  He  is  the  author  of  a  half-dozen 
books  on  philosophical,  religious  and  social  subjects, 
has  delivered  special  courses  of  lectures  in  a  dozen 
institutions,  is  a  leader  in  all  the  public  agitation  for 
social  reform,  carries  on  a  laborers'  dormitory,  a  free 
hospital  and  a  dispensary,  is  editor  and  proprietor 
of  The  Laborer's  News,  and  is  a  constant  contrib- 
utor to  several  magazines.  Besides  all  this  he  is 
the  efficient  pastor  of  his  flock  in  Shinkawa  and 
acting  pastor  of  another  church.  He  preaches  three 
times  a  week  in  the  slums  and  during  last  spring  con- 
ducted evangelistic  services  in  the  Kobe  YMCA 
and  in  twenty  churches  of  this  section." 

In  the  summer  of  1919,  at  the  request  of  the  Feder- 
ated Churches,  Kagawa  visited  the  coal  mines  of 
Kyushu.  His  report  of  the  rough  conditions  where 
half-naked  women  and  men  were  laboring  for  long 
hours  in  the  dingy,  dirty  underground  stirred  the 
Christian  world. 

His  latest  achievement  is  the  organization  of  the 


MISS  KAWAI  253 

Kansai  Federation  of  Labor  with  a  membership  of 
5,500.  This  is  the  nearest  to  a  real  labor  union  of 
any  similar  organization  in  Japan. 

Mr.  Kagawa  needs  at  once  a  suitable  building  for 
his  great  uplifting  work  among  the  poor  of  Kobe. 

MICHIKO  KAWAI 
Apostle  of  the  New  Man  and  the  New  Woman 

"Today  I  have  discovered  the  coming  woman  of 
Japan,"  said  Dr.  Nitobe  to  his  wife  when  he  returned 
home  from  the  girls'  school  at  Sapporo  where  he  had 
met  the  fourteen  year  old  Michiko.  "To  my  mind, ' ' 
writes  her  associate  Miss  MacDonald,  "she  is  not 
the  coming  woman  any  more,  she  has  come"  Not 
only  as  head  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  but  as  a  speaker  and  writer  to  men  is 
Miss  Kawai  making  her  impress  on  the  New  Japan. 
Excepting  the  late  Madame  Hirooka,  few  have  been 
the  women  who  could  win  and  hold  as  she  does  the 
attention  of  Japanese  men.  Miss  Macdonald  writes 
of  her  early  life: 

"  Kawai  San  is  the  daughter  of  a  Shinto  priest  who 
was  the  fortieth  in  his  line,  with  an  unbroken  priest- 
hood of  1 200  years,  all  at  the  Imperial  Shrines  at  Ise. 
After  the  restoration  in  1868  her  father's  order  was 
abolished  and  he  took  his  family  to  Hokkaido,  the 
northern  island.  There  he  engaged  in  business. 
He  was  a  very  devout  man  and  Kawai  San  has  told 
us  that  among  her  earliest  recollections  is  that  of  her 
father  going  out  every  morning  to  worship  the  great 


254  CAN  JAPANESE   BE  CHRISTIANS? 

Spirit  behind  the  Rising  Sun.  He  taught  his  children 
to  pray  always  facing  towards  Ise.  When  Michiko 
San  was  about  eleven  her  father  became  a  Christian 
through  the  influence  of  a  cousin  of  his  who  had  been 
a  ne'er-do-well  but  after  his  conversion  had  become 
a  Christian  evangelist.  The  whole  Kawai  family 
were  shortly  after  baptized.  The  father  henceforth 
taught  them  to  pray  turning  away  from  Ise,  to  im- 
press the  difference  on  their  childish  minds.  He  died 
a  bit  later." 

The  reticent  little  girl  was  sent  to  a  mission  school 
where  Dr.  Nitobe  met  her  and  took  her  to  his  home. 
"She  was,"  Mr.  Nitobe  said,  "the  shyest  thing  I 
had  ever  seen."  Later  she  went  to  Bryn  Mawr,  hav- 
ing won  the  competitive  scholarship  which  Miss 
Tsuda  had  founded  for  sending  Japanese  students 
from  her  Tokyo  school  to  the  American  college. 

Since  her  graduation  Miss  Kawai  has  been  tireless 
in  her  work  for  her  sex  in  Japan.  Through  her  visits 
and  talks  at  girls'  schools,  by  the  promotion  of  a 
series  of  women's  summer  conferences  all  over  the 
Empire,  and  with  her  magazine,  she  is  a  national 
figure.  Knowing  that  the  docile  Japanese  woman 
can  never  become  what  she  should  without  the  help 
of  men,  Miss  Kawai  has  welcomed  increasing  oppor- 
tunities to  tell  young  men  how  to  look  on  women  and 
how  to  prepare  for  their  future  homes. 

Miss  Kawai  is  also  a  prominent  Presbyterian, 
having  been  chosen  an  elder  in  Dr.  Uemura's  church 
in  Tokyo. 

Criticism  has,  as  a  matter  of  course,  been  aroused. 


MISS  HAYASHI  255 

Several  years  ago  I  sat  by  a  long-haired,  conservative 
university  graduate  as  Miss  Kawai  thrilled  an  audi- 
ence at  the  Tokyo  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion. In  the  midst  of  her  inspiring  address  this  man 
remarked,  "We  men  do  not  consider  Miss  Kawai  a 
typical  Japanese  woman.  She  is  too  eccentric." 
Thank  God  for  such  eccentricity.  Would  there  were 
half  a  hundred  more! 

Miss  Kawai  visited  Siberia  in  1919  and  in  1920 
made  her  third  visit  since  her  college  graduation 
to  the  United  States.  She  is  representing  Japan 
at  important  Christian  Association  gatherings. 

Another  word  from  Miss  Macdonald:  "Kawai 
San  is  naturally  of  a  religious  temperament.  It  is  easy 
for  her  to  understand  the  reality  of  the  Unseen.  Do 
you  suppose  she  gets  it  from  1200  years'  heredity 
of  Shinto  priesthood?  It  is  an  interesting  problem." 

UTAK.O  HAYASHI 

Miss  Hayashi  is  the  able  general  who  in  1905  as 
leader  of  the  Osaka  W.  C.  T.  U.  secured  10,000  com- 
fort bags  for  soldiers  in  Manchuria,  and  since  then 
has  led  three  vigorous  campaigns  against  the  licensed 
social  evil.  The  two  fights  of  1909  and  1912  elimi- 
nated from  Osaka  over  130  licensed  houses  involving 
1500  inmates;  and  the  campaign  against  the  new 
quarter  at  Tobita,  kept  up  in  1916  for  more  than 
nine  weary  months,  was  due  largely  to  her  untiring 
energy  and  buoyant  faith.  These  three  drives 
against  prostitution  have  been  such  an  education  to 


256  CAN  JAPANESE   BE  CHRISTIANS? 

the  whole  Japanese  nation  that  within  a  few  years 
we  believe  the  licensed  system  will  be  a  thing  of  the 
past.  I  count  it  a  great  honor  to  have  fought  by  the 
side  of  this  noble  little  woman,  sometimes  from  the 
same  platform,  in  these  campaigns. 

Born  fifty-five  years  ago  in  Fukui  Miss  Hayashi 
graduated  from  the  Fukui  Normal  School  and  later 
became  a  teacher  in  the  Episcopal  Girls'  School  of 
Tokyo.  In  1896  she  became  head  of  the  Osaka 
Hakuaisha  Orphanage  which  she  built  up  through 
starvation  and  self-sacrifice  until  she  was  able  to 
hand  it  over  to  another  head  with  an  equipment 
valued  at  $30,000  and  accommodations  for  130  boys 
and  girls.  In  the  early  days  of  the  orphanage  she 
once  fasted  two  whole  days  when  the  money  failed. 
At  another  time  after  a  day  of  empty  stomachs,  on 
returning  from  a  night  school  where  she  taught,  she 
"bought"  five  cents  worth  of  potatoes  for  her  starv- 
ing children,  promising  to  pay  later.  The  next  day, 
unable  to  keep  her  promise,  she  went  around  by  side 
streets  to  avoid  the  dunning  shop  keeper.  On  the 
third  morning  the  longed-for  post  office  order  came 
from  America,  but  it  was  payable  at  the  Denbo  office 
three  miles  away  across  the  river.  Weak  from  hunger 
she  started  on  the  long  walk  but  was  stopped  at  the 
river  for  lack  of  the  quarter  cent  for  the  ferry  ticket. 
The  boatman  yielded  to  her  tears  and  she  finally 
cashed  the  order  and  fed  her  children.  If  weeping 
could  have  moved  the  Osaka  Governor,  the  Tobita 
Licensed  Quarter  would  never  be  on  the  map,  for 
I  one  day  saw  his  desk  wet  with  the  tears  of  this 


YAMAMURO  257 

valiant  woman  as  she  pleaded  for  the  freeing  of  the 
"white  slaves"  of  our  city.  A  free  lance,  living  by 
faith,  Utako  Hayashi  is  giving  all  she  has  and  is 
for  the  uplift  of  the  women  of  Japan. 


COLONEL  GUNPEI  YAMAMURO 

"When  Colonel  Yamamuro  speaks  I  feel  that  I 
am  listening  to  a  man  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit." 
Thus  spoke  a  Japanese  YMCA  secretary  of  his 
contemporary,  the  chief  secretary  of  the  Salvation 
Army. 

Wherever  Yamamuro  goes  the  halls  are  crowded. 
In  the  Osaka  fights  against  licensed  prostitution  he 
has  been  chief  platform  speaker  and  publicity  writer. 
His  style  is  picturesque  and  conclusive.  In  his  book 
Study  of  One  Hundred  Prostitutes,  he  has  investi- 
gated and  interviewed  the  unfortunate  girls  whom 
his  associates  have  rescued,  and  from  their  personal 
experience  he  has  drawn  his  conclusions.  In  public 
address,  the  pathetic  stories  he  tells  drive  home  the 
principles  he  draws  from  their  examination. 

The  Common  People's  Gospel  is  another  of 
Colonel  Yamamuro's  books.  This,  running  through 
many  successive  editions,  has  caused  hundreds  of 
Japanese  to  become  Christians.  The  Japanese  War 
Cry  is  also  in  his  care.  Among  his  writings  is  a  life 
of  General  Booth.  In  1917  while  on  a  visit  to  the 
United  States,  he  conducted  a  highly  successful  reli- 
gious campaign  among  countrymen  of  his  in  many 
states. 


258  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

On  the  accession  of  the  present  Emperor  in  1915 
Yamamuro  was  decorated  with  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
a  recognition  of  social  service  which  has  been  granted 
to  few  Christians. 


REVEREND  MASAHISA  UEMURA 

For  a  real  live  wire  go  to  Reverend  Uemura.  For 
forty  years,  from  Tokyo  as  a  center,  he  has  been 
preaching  and  writing  a  conservative  Christian  Gos- 
pel. Watch  the  eager  faces  of  the  400  members  who 
troop  into  his  church  every  Sunday  morning  as  the 
crowd  of  Sunday  School  children  troop  out.  His 
is  the  largest  congregation  in  Japan.  Yet  he  has 
graduated  five  independent  branch  churches  and  is 
preparing  two  more  for  their  commencement. 

But  church  work  is  not  enough  to  keep  Mr.  Uemura 
busy.  He  manages  a  divinity  school  of  forty  students, 
including  ten  women,  publishes  a  religious  magazine 
and  for  three  years  shared  with  Reverend  Miyagawa 
of  Osaka  the  management  of  the  nation-wide  evan- 
gelistic campaign.  His  school  is  sixteen  years  old, 
his  paper  thirty,  his  church  forty  and  he  has  just 
turned  sixty-one.  Like  Reverend  Miyagawa,  he  has 
lived  his  working  life  in  one  city. 

Among  the  men  he  has  inspired  to  Christian  pub- 
lic service  are  the  late  Kenkichi  Kataoka,  four  times 
president  of  the  Diet,  Somei  Uzawa,  M.  P.,  and 
Nobori  Watanabe,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Cas- 
sation in  Korea. 

Mr.  Uemura  is  a  great  believer  in  church  independ- 


UEMURA  259 

ence  and  self-support.  All  his  undertakings  have 
for  twenty-five  years  been  independent  of  the  mission 
boards.  His  church  is  supported  by  the  members, 
his  paper  by  its  subscribers  and  his  school  by  one  of 
his  wealthy  converts.  He  is  a  wide  reader,  terse 
and  sharp  in  expression,  and  a  tremendous  worker. 
Midnight  finds  him  finishing  the  day. 

He  used  to  be  fond  of  a  controversy.  In  1901-02 
he  engaged  in  a  theological  contention  with  the  more 
liberal  Danjo  Ebina.  But  with  maturing  years  he 
has  learned  to  cooperate  with  his  former  creedal 
enemies. 

Mr.  Uemura  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Tokyo 
YMCA,  and  for  many  years  was  the  head  of  the 
Presbyterian  General  Board  which  has  mission 
churches  in  Korea,  China,  LiuChiu,  Formosa  and 
Japan. 

When  his  knightly  family  was  reduced  to  poverty 
at  the  Restoration,  he  sold  wood  and  charcoal  and 
even  raised  the  hated  pigs.  Spare  time  he  gave  to 
study.  James  H.  Ballagh  and  S.  R.  Brown  did  a 
great  service  to  the  Orient  when  they  took  this  eager 
son  of  a  fallen  daimyo  into  their  Yokohama  English 
class. 

KIYOSHI  KOIZUMI 

Two  years  ago  I  sat  in  the  cozy  parlor  of  a  Japa- 
nese suburban  home  and  listened  to  the  life  story  of 
a  prosperous  Christian  merchant.  Measured  in 
money  it  was  an  upward  climb  from  a  two  dollar  a 
month  teacher  to  a  semi-millionaire  iron  dealer. 


26o  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS 

Measured  in  spiritual  values  it  was  the  rise  from  an 
obscure  villager  to  one  of  the  leading  Christian  lay- 
men of  the  Empire,  and  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  World's  Sunday  School  Associa- 
tion. 

Mrs.  Koizumi  came  from  a  well-to-do  family.  But 
she  was  cast  off  when  she  married  a  Christian.  She 
and  her  husband  were  eking  out  a  bare  living  when  a 
triflling  incident  fired  a  new  ambition.  One  of  the  pri- 
mary pupils  brought  a  Parley's  history  and  asked  his 
teacher  to  read  it  with  him.  Ashamed  at  his  ignorance 
of  English  Mr.  Koizumi  resolved  to  leave  his  country 
school  and  master  the  foreign  language.  Although 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  went  up  to  Osaka  and 
enrolled  in  the  six  years'  course  at  the  Taisei  School. 
For  support  the  little  wife  remained  at  home  and 
taught  sewing  in  a  school  for  girls.  Of  her  monthly 
$3.50  she  sent  $2.00  to  her  husband  and  starved  on 
the  rest.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle,  her  baby  came. 
I  can  see  her  now  sitting  on  her  feet,  Japanese  style, 
by  her  husband's  chair,  as  he  related  the  trials  of 
those  early  days. 

The  six  years'  work  he  finished  in  four.  After 
graduation  he  clerked  for  $2.00  a  month.  Mrs. 
Koizumi  joined  him,  and  by  her  sewing  added  an- 
other $2.00  to  their  meager  income.  In  the  evenings, 
the  English  scholar  tended  the  baby  while  his  wife 
sewed.  Then  wages  rose  to  $4.00  per  month  and 
later  to  $6.00.  The  wolf  had  been  conquered.  All 
this  hardship  because  rich  parents  declined  to  help. 

As  the  iron  dealer  ended  the  story  he  pointed  to 


KOIZUMI  261 

his  wife  sitting  on  the  floor  beside  his  chair.  "She 
hasn't  much  education  and  she  lacks  the  graces  of  a 
dainty  lady.  Her  eyes  are  bad,  too,  and  she  has  to 
wear  those  ugly  spectacles.  But  she  hurt  her  eyes 
working  to  make  me  what  I  am.  I  love  her  for  it." 
Thus  spoke  the  Christian  iron  merchant,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  largest  Sunday  School  in  West  Japan, 
the  treasurer  of  the  local  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  a  pillar  in  the  Congregational 
Church.  When  the  Osaka  Association  was  raising 
money  for  its  building  it  was  Mr.  Koizumi  who  made 
the  largest  gift  of  any  Christian  in  the  city.  Passion- 
ately devoted  to  the  Sunday  School  he  responds  to 
every  appeal  for  such  work.  He  once  gave  a  whole 
shelf  of  reference  books  on  Christian  education  to 
the  pastors'  library  in  the  YMCA  building. 

His  Christianity  he  practices  in  his  business.  At 
meetings  of  his  fellow  merchants  it  has  been  the 
custom  to  carouse  with  wine  and  women.  Against 
this  evil  he  is  throwing  all  the  weight  of  his  influence. 
To  his  little  group  of  clerks  he  regularly  divides  a 
tenth  of  each  half  year's  profits,  which  at  one  time 
meant  for  the  ten  young  men  the  snug  sum  of  $35,000. 

REVEREND  TSUNETERU  MIYAGAWA 

On  a  springlike  Sunday  in  January,  1876,  a  group 
of  school-boys  walked  through  the  streets  of  Ku- 
mamoto  in  South  Japan,  singing  "Jesus,  I  My  Cross 
Have  Taken"  and  other  Christian  hymns.  On  the 
top  of  Hana-oka-yama,  a  hill  overlooking  the  city, 


262  CAN  JAPANESE   BE  CHRISTIANS? 

they  kneeled  and  after  prayer  signed  and  sealed  their 
names  on  an  oath-paper  covenanting  at  the  sacrifice 
of  their  lives  to  enlighten  the  darkness  of  their  coun- 
try by  preaching  the  Gospel  of  God.  From  that 
group  have  come  Ebina,  Kozaki,  Kanamori,  and 
Miyagawa.  What  does  Japan  not  owe  to  the  spiri- 
tual leadership  of  these  men,  still  active  in  Christian 
evangelism ! 

Captain  Janes,  the  American  military  officer  chosen 
as  the  martial  spirited  English  teacher  of  this  clan 
private  school,  for  three  years  taught  English  in 
public  and  prayed  with  his  wife  in  private  for  the 
anti-Christian  boys.  In  the  fourth  year  the  teacher 
announced:  "I  shall  teach  the  Bible  on  Sunday. 
Any  one  who  wishes  may  come  to  my  house."  Miya- 
gawa went  to  study  Christianity  in  order  to  oppose 
it.  Of  a  family  of  Shinto  priests  he  saw  in  this  Bible 
class  the  opportunity  to  prepare  himself  to  become 
the  champion  of  Shintoism  in  its  conflict  with  Chris- 
tianity. Charmed  by  the  personality  and  conviction 
of  Captain  Janes  and  moved  by  the  prayers  of  Mrs. 
Janes,  the  boys  responded.  "The  whole  school," 
writes  one  of  the  pupils,  "was  like  a  boiling  cauldron. 
Studies  were  neglected,  groups  of  five,  six,  or  seven 
began  to  study  the  Bible  in  the  recitation  rooms,  in 
the  dining  room  or  in  their  own  private  rooms.  Some 
of  them  not  more  than  twelve  years  of  age  were  im- 
pelled to  speak  to  others." 

Miyagawa's  father  in  a  rage  snatched  him  from  the 
school  and  sent  him  for  private  tutoring  to  an  old 
Shinto  priest. 


MIYAGAWA  263 

"At  one  of  my  first  interviews,"  he  later  wrote,  "I 
asked  this  old  scholar  to  tell  me  where  the  Shinto  para- 
dise was.  He  replied  that  it  was  in  the  sun.  But  I 
objected  that  the  sun  was  a  planet  that  was  burning 
itself  out.  He  replied  that  there  was  still  one  spot  that 
was  cool  where  was  built  a  large  Shinto  temple.  Then 
I  asked  him  which  was  the  first  country  on  this  earth 
to  become  civilized.  Of  course  he  mentioned  Japan. 
Again  I  objected  that  Egypt  was  civilized  at  least  5,000 
years  before  Japan  was  known.  On  repeating  my 
interview  to  my  father  he  made  no  reply  and  I  ceased 
to  go  to  the  old  man  for  further  instruction." 

In  the  fall  of  1876  Miyagawa  was  one  of  the  fa- 
mous Kumamoto  Band  of  fifteen  who  formed  the  first 
theological  class  in  Doshisha  University.  Often  have 
I  heard  the  late  Dr.  Davis  amusingly  describe  his 
struggles  with  this  group  of  wild  colts. 

After  finishing  the  Doshisha  and  teaching  school 
for  three  years,  Mr.  Miyagawa  began  in  the  Osaka 
Church  his  one  and  only  pastorate.  For  nearly  forty 
years,  with  the  aid  of  his  able  wife,  this  Beecher  of 
Japan  has  hurled  his  invectives  against  the  evils  of 
Japanese  society  and  expounded  Christ  as  the  Savior 
of  the  Empire.  His  church,  almost  from  the  first 
self-supporting,  has  grown  to  1000  members  with  a 
$6000  budget,  three  assistant  pastors,  and  a  woman 
worker.  For  twenty  years  he  has  issued  the  Osaka 
Kodany  a  monthly  containing  his  sermons  and  other 
articles.  Mr.  Miyagawa  was  the  chairman  in  West 
Japan  of  the  recent  Three  Years'  Evangelistic  Cam- 
paign and  served  for  many  years  as  the  President 


264  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

of  the  local  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
Three  times  he  has  been  abroad.  Two  years  ago  his 
parish  made  a  record  for  benevolence  in  Japan  by 
raising  $50,000  for  the  new  church  home. 

MADAM  ASAKO  HIROOK.A 

The  life  story  of  Madam  Hirooka,  business  woman, 
educator,  patriot,  and  Christian  orator,  is  a  witness 
to  the  power  of  the  Bible  to  remake  character  even 
at  the  age  of  sixty.  In  her  girlhood  she  received  the 
usual  training  in  lady-like  accomplishments,  but  her 
thirsty  mind  longed  for  more.  Untaught,  she  learned 
to  read  the  books  boys  studied  until  her  family,  when 
she  was  thirteen  years  old,  actually  forbade  her  to 
read  any  more  books  at  all. 

Married  at  seventeen  from  the  wealthy  Mitsui 
family  into  an  Osaka  house,  she  soon  discovered 
that  her  .rich  husband  was  spending  his  time  in  amuse- 
ments, leaving  the  management  of  his  affairs  to 
others.  Realizing  that  financial  troubles  were  ap- 
proaching, she  began  to  prepare.  Working  night  after 
night,  the  young  wife  mastered  arithmetic,  book- 
keeping and  commercial  subjects.  Five  years  after 
the  wedding,  during  a  panic  the  crash  came  and  her 
new  family  was  nearly  bankrupt. 

From  that  time,  separating  from  her  husband  and 
quite  alone,  with  remarkable  ability  she  took  full 
charge  of  the  firm,  opened  a  profitable  coal  mine  near 
Moji,  started  the  Kajima  Bank,  the  Daido  Life  In- 
surance Company,  and  exploited  agricultural  lands 
in  Korea.  For  nearly  forty  years,  until  the  marriage 


MADAM  HIROOKA  265 

of  her  only  daughter,  Madam  Hirooka  was  one  of 
the  prominent  business  persons  of  the  Empire. 

Her  conversion  dates  from  a  dinner  with  a  few 
friends  at  the  Osaka  Hotel  ten  years  before  her  death. 
Mr.  Naruse,  President  of  the  Tokyo  Woman's  Uni- 
versity, which  she  had  backed  for  many  years,  point- 
ing to  her  remarked  to  Reverend  Miyagawa:  "This 
uncouth  woman  needs  religion;  you  better  teach  her." 
This  stinging  remark  of  a  trusted  friend  broke 
through.  Then  began  that  intimate  study  of  the 
Bible  with  her  pastor,  often  taking  three  or  four 
hours  a  week,  which  resulted  two  years  later  in  her 
baptism.  She  was  received  into  the  Church  at  the 
same  service  as  several  Sunday  School  pupils.  The 
queen  of  finance  had  become  a  little  child. 

Three  months  after  the  baptism  of  the  mother  her 
daughter  came  to  Reverend  Miyagawa  and  said: 
"My  servants  say  the  devil  is  getting  to  be  an  angel." 
Another  servant  in  the  Tokyo  Mitsui  family  said  to 
the  newly-born  old  lady:  "Now  that  you  have  be- 
come so  much  kinder  I  hope  you  will  live  a  long  time." 

Prayer  was  a  great  problem  to  her.  The  suggestion 
was  made  that  she  try  to  speak  to  God  what  was  in 
her  heart  "as  a  tenderly  indulged  child  speaks  to  a 
father."  Madam  Hirooka  later  made  the  comment: 
"Unlike  other  people  I  had  never  had  the  experience 
of  being  tenderly  indulged;  my  father,  my  mother, 
even  my  husband,  far  from  tenderly  indulging  me, 
had  always  depended  upon  me,  so  this  advice  did 
not  suit  me  at  all." 

Her  magazine  articles  were  signed  "Kyuten  Jukki 


266  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

Sei"  (nine  times  falling,  nine  times  rising  again),  a 
true  description  of  her  life,  referring  to  Prov.  24:16, 
"A  righteous  man  falleth  seven  times  and  riseth  up 
again." 

Madam  Hirooka  was  one  of  the  great  Christian 
evangelists  of  Japan.  In  connection  with  the  United 
Evangelistic  Campaign  she  toured  from  north  to 
south  and  south  to  north,  making  her  thrilling,  almost 
terrific,  appeals  for  pure  Christian  living.  One  night 
at  Shimonoseki  she  held  a  vast  theatre  audience  of 
2,000  for  a  solid  hour  with  her  virile  Gospel  message. 
She  always  dressed  in  European  clothes  which  made 
her  quickly  recognized  everywhere  she  went. 

Her  main  interest  was  the  woman  problem,  the 
arrows  of  which  from  a  child  had  pierced  her  soul. 
Many  a  time  have  I  heard  her  eloquent  damnation 
of  the  pernicious  customs  tolerated  by  law  and  by 
society.  But  with  her  there  was  but  one  solution — 
the  Bible  and  Christianity.  An  American  newspaper 
woman  who  had  certain  theories  that  education  and 
environment  make  men  and  women  once  interviewed 
Madam  Hirooka  and  tried  to  get  her  ideas  confirmed 
by  this  keen  Japanese  mind.  But  the  Oriental  bus- 
iness woman  kept  reiterating  what  the  Occidental 
writer  kept  ignoring,  that  without  the  Spirit  of  the 
living  God  working  in  the  hearts  of  men,  these  things 
could  not  be  done. 

Although  she  had  suffered  much,  her  first  tears 
were  shed  one  summer  morning  at  Karuizawa.  She 
gives  a  beautiful  account  of  that  memorable  experi- 
ence on  the  mountain  side,  when  all  the  clouds  upon 


MORIMURA  267 

her  spirit  vanished  and  she  was  lifted  into  full  fellow- 
ship with  her  Lord.  After  the  happy  tear  drops  had 
rained  down  she  lifted  her  eyes,  the  morning  mists 
were  rolling  up,  the  cooing  of  the  wood  pigeons  and 
the  early  notes  of  the  nightingale  seemed  to  be  prais- 
ing God  with  a  sweetness  never  known  before.  From 
that  morning  in  the  great  outdoors  until  her  death 
God  and  His  Presence  were  a  vital  reality  to  her. 

BARON  ICHIZAEMON  MORIMURA 

Halls  were  not  large  enough  when  the  "big  bus- 
iness" evangelists,  Madam  Hirooka  and  Baron  Mori- 
mura  were  advertised  to  speak.  The  testimony  of 
this  gray-haired  pair,  both  converted  when  over  sixty 
and  working  with  an  intensity  which  put  to  shame 
many  a  younger  Christian,  was  irresistible.  The  loss 
to  the  Christian  movement  in  their  deaths  less  than 
a  year  apart  cannot  be  estimated.  Had  he  lived 
another  month  Baron  Morimura  would  have  been 
eighty  years  old.  For  the  last  quarter  of  his  life  he 
was  an  ardent  Christian,  having  been  converted  dur- 
ing a  visit  to  America.  Although  he  travelled  about 
the  Empire  preaching  in  nearly  every  larger  center  he 
was  baptized  only  two  years  before  his  death,  and 
then  at  his  own  residence  and  by  an  unordained  evan- 
gelist who  had  spent  twenty-three  years  of  his  life  in 
jail.  By  selecting  Mr.  Y.  Koji  to  perform  this  cere- 
mony Baron  Morimura  registered  his  protest  against 
division  and  formalism  in  the  Christian  Church. 

This  millionaire  head  of  the  Morimura  Company, 
Exporters  and  Importers,  began  his  career  as  shop 


268  CAN  JAPANESE   BE  CHRISTIANS? 

boy  in  a  dry  goods  store.  At  eighteen  he  was  a  petty 
dealer  in  tobacco  pouches.  At  thirty-six  he  organ- 
ized the  firm  which  still  bears  his  name.  At  fifty- 
three  he  was  appointed  manager  of  the  Nihon  Ginko, 
the  Bank  of  England  of  Japan,  which  post  he  filled 
for  eighteen  years.  Later  he  established  the  Mori- 
mura  Bank.  Four  years  before  his  death  he  was 
created  a  peer  and  given  the  title  of  Baron.  The 
kindly  face  under  its  canopy  of  snow  white  hair  will 
remain  a  vivid  picture  in  the  hearts  of  those  who 
heard  this  prosperous  business  man  exhort  his  coun- 
trymen to  follow  his  Christ. 

PROFESSOR  SAKUZO  YOSHINO 

In  May  of  1919,  at  Tokyo  I  met  Bob  Gailey,  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  statesman  of 
North  China.  "George,"  he  said,  "you  say  there 
is  a  democratic  party  in  Japan.  I  can't  find  it.  I 
wish  you  would  show  me  some  evidence." 

A  few  hours  later  we  passed  under  the  big  red  gate 
of  the  Tokyo  Imperial  University,  the  school  de  luxe 
of  the  Oriental  world.  In  his  office  we  met  Professor 
Yoshino,  authority  in  international  politics  and 
president  of  the  University  Christian  Association. 
To  Professor  Yoshino  Gailey  reported  his  quest. 

"Signs  of  democracy  in  Japan?"  said  Dr.  Yoshino. 
"Why,  the  University  students  are  turning  demo- 
crats so  fast  that  we  are  trying  to  slow  them  down 
to  keep  them  from  becoming  Bolsheviks." 

Then  this  Christian  educator  told  us  how  a  few 
days  before,  when  the  agitation  in  China  against 


YOSHINO  269 

Japan's  demands  for  Shantung  was  at  its  height, 
three  of  his  pupils  went  over  to  call  on  some  Chinese 
in  Tokyo.  The  men  from  abroad  were  afraid.  They 
thought  the  Japanese  had  come  to  start  something. 
But  when  they  heard  this  little  deputation  express 
sympathy  for  China  in  her  plight  they  were  dumb 
with  surprise. 

The  professor's  eyes  shone  as  he  explained  to  us 
his  "Shinjin  Kai"  (Society  of  New  Men),  of  fifty 
University  graduates — a  group  of  educated  reformers. 
A  score  of  these  had  recently  banded  themselves 
together  to  study  in  close  contact  the  labor  situation 
in  their  Empire.  They  had  gone  out  into  the  shops 
and  factories  to  work  and  live  with  the  laborers.  Here 
were  twenty  disciples  under  the  guidance  of  a  Christian 
prophet  getting  first-hand  information  with  which  to 
help  solve  a  great  social  problem  when  the  crisis  in 
Japan  should  become  acute.  As  we  left  the  University 
grounds,  Gailey  remarked :  "  This  morning  has  given 
me  a  great  hope,  both  for  China  and  for  Japan." 

The  leadership  of  the  new  Orient  must  come  from 
Christians.  The  narrow  nationalism  of  men  of  the 
old  school  in  any  land  must  give  place  to  leaders  who 
believe  in  a  World  Father  and  the  one  Kingdom  of 
a  sacrificing  Master.  Professor  Yoshino's  experience 
peculiarly  fits  him  to  guide  Japan  at  this  time.  His 
years  of  residence  in  the  University  Christian  Associa- 
tion dormitory,  when  twenty  years  ago  he  came  down 
from  the  north  a  poor  college  student,  gave  him  the 
Christian  background.  His  knowledge  of  China, 
gained  by  three  years'  residence  in  Tientsin  when  he 


270  CAN  JAPANESE  BE  CHRISTIANS? 

was  tutor  in  Yuan  Shih  K'ai's  family,  and  his  three 
years  of  study  in  America  and  Europe  in  1910-13,  have 
given  him  an  insight  of  both  the  East  and  the  West. 

As  professor  of  Political  History  in  the  Imperial 
University  Law  College,  Dr.  Yoshino  stands  in  a 
position  to  send  from  his  classes  a  steady  stream  of 
young  political  leaders  with  the  Christian  world  view. 
The  general  public,  too,  looks  to  him  for  guidance. 
The  circulation  of  The  Central  Review  (Chuo  Koron), 
the  magazine  through  which  he  preaches  his  pro- 
gressive ideas,  has  increased  its  monthly  circulation 
from  11,000  to  55,000  in  the  last  four  years. 

The  contribution  to  the  future  of  Asia  of  this 
traveled  Christian  democrat  is  beyond  measure, 
especially  at  this  critical  time  when,  in  the  words  of 
a  recent  American  visitor  to  Japan,  "One  false  move 
and  the  whole  Far  East  may  be  ablaze." 

It  is  such  men  and  women  who  will  Christianize 
Japan's  impact  on  the  world.  The  development 
of  a  few  more  leaders  like  these  is  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  Far  East.  Here  is  the  call  to  British 
and  American  young  men  and  women,  to  go  to  Japan, 
dig  down  into  the  life  of  that  forward-looking  nation, 
and  raise  up  Christians  of  this  type.  Men  from 
China  and  even  Russia  are  saying:  "If  necessary, 
our  countries  can  wait.  Japan  must  be  Christian- 
ized now."  Let  us,  the  followers  of  Christ,  buttress 
the  Japanese  church  until  "the  menace  of  Japan" 
shall  become  the  blessing  of  the  Orient.  Where  is 
there  a  greater  challenge  to  constructive  service? 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
BOOKS  WITH  A  PRO-JAPANESE  ATTITUDE 

Clarke,  Joseph  I.  C.: 

Japan  at  First  Hand.     Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 
Kawakami,  Kiyoshi  Karl: 

Japan  and  World  Peace.     Macmillan 
Nitobe,  Inazo: 

The  Japanese  Nation.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 
Okuma,  Count: 

Fifty  Years  of  New  Japan.     E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co. 
Sherrill,  Charles  H.: 

Have  We  a  Far  Eastern  Policy?    Scribner 

BOOKS  WITH  AN  ANTI-JAPANESE  ATTITUDE 

Coleman,  Frederic: 

The  Far  East  Unveiled.     Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co. 
Crow,  Carl: 

Japan  and  America.     McBride 
McKenzie,  F.  A.: 

Korea's  Fight  for  Freedom.     Revell 
Millard,  Thomas  F.: 

Democracy  and  the  Eastern  Question.     Century 
Putnam  Weale,  B.  F.: 

The  Truth  about  China  and  Japan.     Dodd,  Mead 
and  Co. 


271 


272  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BOOKS  WITH  AN  UNPARTISAN  ATTITUDE 

Bashford,  James  Whitford: 

China;  an  Interpretation.     Abington  Press 
Brown,  Arthur  Judson: 

The  Mastery  of  the  Far  East.     Scribner 
Hershey,  Amos  R.: 

Modern  Japan.     Bobbs,  Merrill  Co. 
Hornbeck,  Stanley  K.: 

Contemporary  Politics  in  the  Far  East.     Appleton 
Patton,  Cornelius  H.: 

World  Facts  and  America's  Responsibility.     Associa- 
tion Press 
Porter,  Robert  P.: 

Japan,   the   Rise  of  a  Modern   Power.     Clarendon 

Press,  Oxford 
Spargo,  John: 

Russia  as  an  American  Problem.     Harper 


INDEX 


Abolition  of  slavery,  29 
Adams,  Will,  47 
Aigun,  134 
Alaska,  47 
Allied  forces,  26 
All-Russian  Government,  36 
America,  25,  32,  48,  136,  242 

leaves  Siberia,  33 
American  arms,  32 

business  man,  quoted,  7 

Congress,  inaction  of,  112 

engineers,  6,  10,  29,  31 

Expeditionary  Force,  27 

fleet  in  Japan,  48 

Government,  33 

decision  regarding  Siberia,  21, 
22 

Legion,  203 

military  prison,  164,  165 

opposition   to  Japan's    policies, 
211  sq. 

policy,  32 

Review    of    Reviews,    quoted, 
205,  207 

soldiers,  number  of,  in  France, 

213 
Americans,  purpose  of,  in  Siberia, 

29 

Amur  Line,  2,  23,  24 
Amur  River,  23,  26,  134 

Japanese  troops  at  the  mouth 

of,  24 

Anglo-Japanese  Alliance,  58,  59 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  242 

plea  to,  4 
Annam,  56 


Annexation  by  white  nations,  168 
Anshanchan  steel  mill,  128 
Anti-American  feeling,  causes  of, 

197  sq. 
Anti-Japanese  demonstrations,  50 

feeling,  25 

stories,  200  sq. 

Antung-Mukden  Railway,  82,  87 
Area  of  Japan,  240 
Armaments,  limitation  of,  40 
Arms  Alliance,  77 
Army,  Japanese,  78,  235,  241 

in  Siberia,  24,  32 

in  1895,  54 

in  1904,  54 

officers  in,  76 
Arnold,  Julean,  169,  171 
Asahi,  Osaka,  94,  105 
Asahi,  Toyko,  27,  104 
Asama,  the,  201 
Asia,  Japan's  prestige  in  northern, 

25 

Asia,  quoted,  13 
Australia,  221 
Austrians,  22 

Baikal,  Lake,  33 

Baker,  Newton  D.,  Secretary  of 

War,  43 

Baker,  William,  170 
Ballagh,  James  H.,  259 
Baltic  Squadron,  60 
Banks,  20,  225 
Bashford,  Bishop,  168,  170 
Belgium,  168 
Bell,  Sergeant,  165 


273 


274 


INDEX 


Berlin  Mission  Society,  181 
Bessarabia,  37,  41 
Bibliography,  271,  272 
Big  Five,  164 
Blagoveschensk,  23,  26,  28 
Blunders,  first,  74 

second,  74 

third,  75 

fourth,  77 

fifth,  77 
Bolsheviki,  3,  21,  23,  26,  27,  29, 

30,  34.  37,  39.  43 
Bolshevism,     Japan     fearful     of, 

33 

Booth,  General,  257 
Boston  Globe,  202 
Boston  Herald,  178,  190 
Boxer  uprising,  57,  185 
Boycott  of  Japanese  goods,  180 
British,  the,  23,  48,  247 
British  army  officers,  21 

banks,  20 

engineers,  31 

fleet,  ss 

Labor  Party,  107 

packing  firm,  13 

troops,  43 

War  Office,  10 

Brown,  Arthur  Judson,  144,  229 
Brown,  S.  R.,  259 
Bryn  Mawr,  254 
Buddhism,  238,  239 
Bukedu,  2 

Burial  at  sea,  210,  21 1 
Bushido,  79,  238,  248 
Business  men  in  Siberia,  12 

Cabinet,  the,  43 
California,  birth  rate  in,  208 
Japanese  question  in,  204 


California,     land     cultivated     by 
Japanese  in,  209 

land  laws,  208 

referendum,  207 
Cambodia,  56 
Canada,  221 
Canteens,  14 
Canton,  55,  242 
Caroline  Islands,  242 
Caucasian  territory,  37,  41 
Causeway  to  Asia,  60 
Chai-Amm-Ni,  burning  of  church 

at,  151,  152 
Changchun,  25,  61,  125,  172 

cruel  treatment  of  a  coolie  at, 
130,  131 

Italians  at,  n 
Chang  Chung  Hsiang,  180 
Chang  Poling,  182 
Characteristics     in     Japan,     236 

sq. 

Charity  in  Japan,  229 
Chefoo,  8 1,  86 
Chemulpo,  60 
China,  25,  49,  52,  53,  55,  247 

buying  power  of,  168,  169 

coal  of,  169 

factories  of,  170 

foreign  adviser  of,  84 

foreign  concessions  in,  191 

hatred  of  Japan  by,  3 

iron  in,  170 

Japan  compared  to,  167 

in  Korea,  50,  51 

national  union  of,  stimulated  by 
Japan,  182 

natural  resources  of,  169  sq. 

police  of,  84 

Press,  The,  quoted,  76 

solution  of  problem  of,  191 


INDEX 


275 


China,  war  of,  with  Japan,  cost  of, 

52 

number  of  soldiers  in,  52 
Chinese  Customs,  15,  16 
Eastern  Railroad,  2,  10,  15,  24, 

76,  134 

engineers,  31 

Government  Railway,  134 

revolution,  135 

students  oppose  Japan,  179 

tellers,  20 
Choshu,  48 
Christianity  in  Japan,  46,  239, 

246  sq. 

Christian  Herald,  The,  138 
Christian  Work,  The,  182 
Christians  in  Japan,  47,  246 
Chronicle,    The    San    Francisco, 

137 

Chuo  Koron,  199,  270 
Civilians,  growing  power  of,  100 
Clemenceau,  32,  38,  43 
Coal  mines  in  Shantung,  68 
Cochin-China,  56 
Coleman,   Frederic,   quoted,    132, 

173.  175 

Concessions  in  China,  195 
Conservatives,  115 
Consortium,  135,  186  sq.,  214 
Constituent  Assembly,  35  sq. 
Corbett,  Dr.  Hunter,  181 
Cossacks,  28,  32 
Cost  of  living  in  Japan,  226 
Court  Chamberlain,  102 
Crown  Prince,  31 
Cuba,  188 

Current  Opinion,  138 
Czar,  53,  55 
Czecho-Slovaks,  22,  23,  25,  28,  31, 

33,  34»  247 


Dairen,  52,  57,  6l,  121,  183,  236 

beans  of,  122 

experiment  station,  126 

trade  of,  122 
Dalny,  82,  87,  141 
Davis,  Dr.,  263 
"  Dawn,  The,"  98 
Debts  of  Japan,  226 

of  nations,  223 

of  Russia,  38,  41 
Deities,  243 
Democracy,  98,  264 

growth  of,  94,  219 

evolution    of    Japan    towards, 
119 

flooding  the  world,  104 
Deshima,  47 
Dewey,  John,  229,  234,  238 

on  Japan  factory  laws,  108 
Dial,  The,  108,  234,  238 
Diet,  the,  33,  96,  219,  232 
Diplomacy,  Japan's  skill  in,  53 
Diplomatic  blunders,  71 
Divorce,  230,  231 
Doshisha  University,  263 
"Dual    Government,"    79,     103, 

114  sq. 
Dutch,  the,  47,  48 

Ebara,  Soroku,  248 

Ebina,  262 

Economic  future  of  Japan,  220  sq. 

Economic  Rjelief  Society,  14 

Education,  232  sq. 

government  report  on,  243 
Egypt,  164,  192 
Elder  statesmen,  the,  219 
Elgin,  Lord,  240 

Emperor  of  Japan,  53,   54,   116, 
232,  243,  248 


276 


INDEX 


Emperor  and  Empress,  the  act  of 
courtesy  of,  3 1 

Rescript  concerning  Korea,  78 
Empress,  Dowager,  185 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,  56 
England,  32,  53,  55,  71,  136,  191 

agreement  of,  with  Russia,  57 
English  pilot,  47 
Englishman  killed  in  Yokohama, 

48 

Esteb,  Miss,  138 
Esthonia,  37,  41 
Europe,  47,  54,  56 
Exports,  excess  of,  221 

to  China,  181 

Factories,  227 
Factory  laws,  108,  109 
Fakumen,  134 
Family  system,  244 
Far  East,  peace  of,  53 
Far  Eastern  Olympics,  182 
Federated  Missions,  226 
"Fifth  Group,"  74 
Finances  of  Japan,  221  sq. 
Finland,  37,  41,  165 
Force,  use  of,  73 

in  international  dealings,  45 
Foreign  diplomacy,  45 

Office,  25,  96,  117 

trade,  223 

Formosa,  52,  100,  240,  242 
Forum,  The,  202 

France,  25,  53,  55,  71,  77,   136, 
168,  191 

president  of,  53 
Franchise,  extension  of,  96 
Freedom  of  Russia,  43 

of  speech  and  of  the  press,  97 
French,  the,  23,  31,  43,  48,  247 


French  missionaries  massacred  in 
Korea,  140 

possessions  in  South  China,  55 
Friendly  Society,  106,  107,  no 

platforms  of,  113  sq. 
Fukien,  85,  92 
Fushun  coal  mine,  127 
Future  of  Japan,  218  sq. 

Gailey,  Robert  R.,  268 
Geisha,  227 

General  Sherman,  the,  140 
General   Staff  of  Japanese  army, 

24,  78,  96,  117,  1 1 8,  241 
Genghis  Khan,  139 
Gentlemen's  Agreement,  203,  204, 

205 

George,  David  Lloyd,  32,  38,  43 
German  autocracy,  34 

Catholic  missionaries,  54 

propaganda,  202 
Germans,  the,  21,  22 
Germany,  25,  29,  53,  54,  71,  168 

ultimatum  to,  73,  194 
Gleason,  George,  149,  217 
Goto,  Baron,  24 
Graves,  Major-General  William  S., 

22,  27,  28,  30 

Great  Britain,  77,  164,  168,  242 
Great  Wall,  the,  57 
Gulick,  Dr.  S.  L.,  200,  205,  210 

Habarovsk,  2,  3,  14,  22,  23,  27 
Hague  Conference,  72 
Haiti,  164 

Hangkow,  135,  170,  175 
Hanyang,  175 

Hanyehping  Co.,  83,  91,  174  sq. 
Hara,  Premier,  Cabinet  of,  94,  95, 
97 


INDEX 


27? 


Kara,  Premier,  letter  from,  216,  217 

proclamation  of,  on  Korea,  161 

quoted,  94,  95,  101 
Harbin,  7,  n,  12,  14,  15,  17,  57, 

59,  125,  168 

Harriman,  Edward  H.,  133,  197 
Hawaii,  188 

Japanese  in,  210 
Hayashi,  Baron  Gonsuke,  100,  172 

Miss  Utako,  255 
Hearn,  Lafcadio,  230 
Hegemony  in  Asia,  173 
Heidt,  Miss,  137,  138 
Heney-Webb  Bill,  206 
Henschen,  Sigmund,  202 
Hershey,  Amos  R.,  6,    172,    173, 

193 

Heyking,  Baron  von,  70 
Hideyoshi,  Toyotomi,  46 

invasion  of  Korea  by,  139 
Hioki,  Mr.,  93 

Hirooka,  Asako,  Madam,  253,  264 
Hochi,  The,  97,  104,  187 
Hokkaido,  241 
Home  Minister,  the,  in 
Honest,  are  the  Japanese,  20 
Hongkong,  55,  191,  242 
Hornbeck,  Stanley  K.,  226 
Horvath,  General,  16 
Hsinmintun,  134 

Ichihashi,  Prof.,  205,  206 

Ichoufu,  67 

leyasu,  47 

Imperial  Government  of  Japan,  27 

Household  Department,  98,  99 

Rescript,  the,  218 

travel,  simplifying  of,  98 

University,  233,  268 
democracy  in,  98 


Imports,  171 

Imports  from  China,  181 

Indemnity,  China  to  Japan,  52 

paid  by  Japan,  49 
Independent,  The,  162,  179,  192 
India,  164 
Indo-China,  56 
Insurance,  225 
Integrity  of  China,  173,  190 
Intendanski  Rosjest,  17 
International  Agreement,  7 

Labor  Conference,  109 

relations,  242 
Internationalism,  53 
Irkutsk,  23 

Irwin,  Commodore,  201 
Ise  Shinto  Shrine,  229 
Ishii,  Viscount  Kikujiro,  197,  211, 

216 
Ishii-Lansing  agreement,  77,  202, 

214  sq. 

Ishikawa,  Pastor,  14 
Ishizaka,  Rev.,  78 
Italians,  n,  31,  43 
Italy,  247 
Ito,  Prince,  49,  50,  133 

assassination  of,  142 

in  Seoul,  141,  142 
Iwakura  Mission,  49 

Janes,  Captain,  262 
Japan  Advertiser,  10,  99  sq.,  114, 
138,  156,  177,  179,  184,  198, 

199,  222,  223,  243 

Japan  Chronicle,  44,  107,  in  sq., 

164,  188,  199,  225 
Japan  Mail,  173,  235 
Japan  Review,  102,  196 
Japan  Year  Book,  222,  231,  235 
Japanese  Government,  53 


INDEX 


Japanese  Government,  legation  in 

Seoul,  50 

troops  in  Siberia,  23 
Japanese  in  United  States,  204 
Jiji,  98,  99 
Jordan,  Dr.  David  Starr,  20,  200 

Kagawa,  Toyohiko,  107,  250 

Kagoshima,  48 

Kaibara,  230 

Kaizo,  98 

Kalmikov,  32 

Kamakura  Buddha,  49 

Kamchatka,  241 

Kamio,  General,  73 

Kanamori,  262 

Kansai  Federation  of  Labor,  107, 

253 

Kato,  Viscount,  160,  173,  193 
Kawai,  Michiko,  253 
Kawakami,  Mr.,  202 
Kawasaki    ship    building    yards, 

no 

Keijo  Nippo,  156 
Kennan,  George,  202 
Kiaochow,  81,  86 

leased  to  Germany,  62 
Kinchow,  134 
Kirin,  24,  184 

Kirin-Changchun  Railway,  83,  90 
Knox,  General,  8,  10,  197 
Knox  proposal,  134,  135,  187 
Koizumi,  Kiyoshi,  259  sq. 
Koji,  Y.,  267 

Kokumin,  The,  27,   188,   199 
Kokusai  Tsushinsha,  193 
Kolchak,  Admiral,  32,  34,  38,  43 
Komura,  Baron,  61 
Korea,  3,  4,  51,  228,  240 

agricultural  resources  of,  143 


Korea,  annexation  of,  72,  142 

area  of,  143 

causes  of  uprising  in,  156  «q. 

changes  in,  101 

Chinese  troops  in,  51 

country  of  villages,  142 

crucifixions  in,  137 

Emperor's  Rescript  on,  160 

espionage  in,  159 

history  of,  139  sq. 

Imperial  rescript  on,  145 

incidents    in    the    uprising    in, 
152  sq. 

independent  buffer  state,  72 

influence    of    uprising   on    mis- 
sion work  in,  156,  157 

integrity  of,  59 

Japan  in, 137 

Japanese  occupation  of,  145 

Japanese  troops  in,  51 

king  of,  49 

material  progress  in,  146  sq. 

minerals  of,  143 

missions  in,  145 

negotiations  concerning,  59,  72 

newspaper  attacks  on  mission- 
aries in,  155,  156 

official   report   of  uprisings   in, 
150,  151 

population  of,  143 

reforms  in,  50,  51,  160 

Russia  in,  58 

students'  idea  on,  118 

superstitions  in,  144,  145 
Korean  situation,  162 

conclusion  on,  164 
Kozaki,  262 

Krapivinski,  station  master,  16 
Kuhara,  228 
Kumamoto,  261 


INDEX 


Kurino,  Mr.,  60 

Kurozawa,  Colonel,  15,  16,  17,  19 
Kwang-Chow  Bay,  55,  56 
Kwantung  administration,  24 

peninsula,  124 

Kyung  Dari,  visit  to,  154  sq. 
Kyushu,  242 

Labor,  227 
movement,  106 
Party,  97,  112 
song,  no 
unions,  96,  107 
Labor  and  Capital  Harmonization 

Society,  in 

Laborers,  Japanese,  in  America,  6 
Laborer's  News,  The,  252 
Lahti,  Finland,  165 
Lansing,  Robert,  216 
Lansing-Ishii  Agreement,  77,  202, 

214  sq. 
Laos,  56 
Latvia,  37,  41 
Lea,  Homer,  241 
League  of  Nations,  33,  35,  37,  40, 

96,  109,  112,  185,  186,  190, 

191,  203,  214,  235 
Leland  Stanford,  205 
Liaotung,  52,  53,  54,  57 
Liberty,    civil    and    religious,    of 

Russia,  37 
Li  Hung  Chang,  50,   51,  56,  70, 

141 
Literary    Digest,    97,     137,    164, 

165,  204 

Lithuania,  37,  41 
Loans  to  China,  75,  167 
London,  57 

Longford,  Joseph  H.,  240 
Losses  of  Japan  in  Siberia,  26 


Lu,  Mr.,  92,  1 80 
Luther's  Reformation,  29 

Mabie,  Hamilton  Wright,  237 

MacDonald,  Miss,  253,  255 

Magdalena  Bay,  zoo 

Makino,  Baron,  32,  38, 43,  101, 177 

Manchuli,  24 

Manchuria,  2,  3,  8,  24,  25,  57,  58, 

74,  8 1  sq.,  87,  88,  89,  90, 
95,  162,  164,  187,  197,  247 

Japan  in,  120 

negotiations  concerning,  59 

opened  to  trade  by  Japan,  133 

population  of,  123 

Russian  rights  in,  59 
Manchus,  140 

abdication  of,  135 
Mansei,  150 
Marshall  Islands,  242 
Masampo,  57 
Mason,  Gregory,  21 1 
McClatchy,  Mr.,  204 
McCormick,    Frederick,    quoted, 

135 

Meiji,  Tenno,  Emperor,  45,  54,  243 
"Menace  of  Japan,"  189 
Merchant  Marine,  224 
Mexico,  1 88 

Japanese  troops  in,  202 
Mikado,  50 

Militarism,  45,  46,  53,  76,  101,  114, 
115,  242 

cause  of,  explained,  79 
Millard,  Thomas  P.,  quoted,  71, 

75,  1 68,  1 86 

Mines  in  Manchuria,  88 
Minister  of  War,  104,  116,  118 
Missionary  propaganda  in  China, 

85,93 


280 


INDEX 


Missionary  Review  of  the  World, 

181 

Missionaries,  238 
Mito,  Prince  of,  236 
Mitsubishi,  228 
Mitsui,  228,  264 
Miyagawa,   Tsuneteru,   258,   261, 

265 

Mizuno,  Dr.  Kentaro,  161 
Moji,  248 
Mongolia,  25,  74,  81  sq.,  87,  90, 

91,  187 
Monroe  Doctrine,  American,  186 

for  Asia,  185  sq. 
Montreal  train,  131 
Morimura      Ichizaemon,     Baron, 

267 
Morphine,  182  sq. 

in  Manchuria,  129 
Morris,  Roland  S.,  212,  247 
Moscow,  34,  36 
Mowry,  Mr.,  156 
Mukden,  120,  235 

battle  of,  60 
Murayama,  Ryuhei,  94 
Myers,  H.  W.,  251 

Nagao,  Hampei,  246 

Nagasaki,  47 

Naruse,  Mr.,  265 

Nation,  The,  7,  8,  21,  62,  186 

National  debts,  164,  221,  222 

Navy,  78,  235 

in  1895,  54 

in  1905,  54 
Newchwang,  120,  134 
New  Japan,  the,  94 
New  Republic,  The,  7,  165 
New  Statesman,  The,  165 
New  York  Herald,  The,  201 


New  York  Journal,  The,  138 
New  York  Times,  44,    171,   190, 

204,  205 

New  Zealand,  221 
Newspaper  propaganda,  198  sq. 
Nichi  Nichi,  26,  198 
Nineteenth  Century,  The,  240 
Nitobe,  Dr.  Inazo,  198,  237,  253 
Nogawa,  Miss  Hide,  231 
Nogi,  General,  poem  of,  120 
North  American  Review,  208 
North  China  Star,  28 

Oi,  General,  27 
Okayama,  236 
Okuma,  Count,  on  Shantung,  73, 

117,  192 
Okura,  228 

Omsk  Government,  23,  29,  30,  38 
Open  Door,  the,  59,  132,  133,  173, 

189 

Opium,  182  sq. 
Orlando,  32,  38,  43 
Osaka,  98,  228,  229,  236,  247 
Osaka  Mainichi,  26 
Otsuka,  S.,  129 
Outlook,  The,  22,  211 
Ozaki,  Yukio,  44,  71,  97 

"Parchesi,  let's  play,"  213 
Paris,  25,  43,  177 

Conference,  32,  101,  179 
Partisan  Books,  4 
Peace  Conference,  31,  34,  37,  77, 

I3S»  203 

Pechili,  Gulf  of,  134 
Peking,  191 

Chinese  students  in,  3 
Perry,  Commodore,  4,  45,  47,  48, 

197 


INDEX 


281 


Persia,  192 

Pescadores,  The,  52 

Petrograd,  59 

Pheland,  Senator,  203,  208 

Philadelphia    Public    Ledger, 

105,  212 

Philadelphia  Quaker,  i 
Philippines,  56,  182,  188 
Picture  brides,  205,  206 
Pinghsiang  coal  mines,  175 
Pinto,  Mendez,  46 
Poland,  37,  40 
Police  in  China,  84 
Policies  in  Siberia,  30,  45 

Japanese  and  American,  28 

separate,  32 

united,  33 

Policy  in  Russia,  34 
Polk,  Mr.,  21 
Population  of  Japan,  240 
Port  Arthur,  24,  52,  55,  57,  82,  87, 
121,  141,  235,  241 

attack  on  Russian  fleet  near,  60 

assault  of,  120 
Portsmouth,  Treaty  of,  60,   124, 

133 

Portugal,  168 
Portuguese,  the,  46 
Postal  savings,  224 
Powers,  the,  32,  57,  101 
Allied  and  associated,  34,  35,  36, 

37.  38,  43 

Prayers  at  Japanese  Shrines,  48 
Premier,  the  Japanese,  in,  117 
Preserver  of  the  peace  of  the 

Orient,  31 

Prime  Minister,  104 
Princeton,  251 
Prostitution,   130,   227,   229,  255, 

257 


Protestants,  246 
Prussianism,  76 
Putnam-Weale,  B.  F.,  46,  75,  138, 

i83 
Pyeng  Yang,  156 

Railroads  in  Japan,  224 
Railroad  problems,  solution  of,  31 
Railway  concessions  in  China,  92 
Reconstruction  Alliance,  99 
Red  Cross,  10,  33,  229,  246 
Red  tape  of  police,  131 
Reforms  in  Korea,  50,  51 
Reinsch,  Dr.  Paul  S.,  13,  167 
Religion,  238,  239,  245 
Resident-General  of  Korea,  101 
Revolution,  229 

in  China,  186 

in  Russia,  37 
Rhee,  149 
Rice  riots,  105 
Robinson,  Colonel,  28 
Rogers,  Admiral,  140 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  239,  246 
Roosevelt,  President,  60 
Root,  Elihu,  2ii 
Rumania,  37 
Russia,  21,  49,  53,  54,  57,  71,  168, 

23  5»  H7 

advice  of,  to  Japan  in  1895,  53 
ambitions  of,  in  Manchuria  and 

Korea,  57 
anti-Japanese,  12 
feared  by  Europe,  161 
financial  interests  in,  23 
giving  birth  to  a  new  idea,  29 
government  of,  30 
Japan's  enemies  in,  33 
needs  of,  171 
policy  in,  34 


282 


INDEX 


Russia,  railroad  men  of,  2 
Russian  Bear,  53 

Lumber  Company,  58 

Minister,  53 

Orthodox  Church,  14 

problem,  35 

railway,  197 
Russians,  the,  31 

in  Korea,  51,  141 

in  Port  Arthur,  55 
Russo-Japanese  War,  53,  56,  164, 
171,  235,  236 

agreement  of  1910,  134,  135 

cost  of,  60 

treaty  of,  76 

Sabotage,  no 

Sacramento  Bee,  204 

Saghalin,  61,  164,  240,  241 

Saigon,  56 

Saint  Petersburg,  60 

Saito  Baron,  101,  161 

Sake*,  14 

San  Francisco,  190 
pig  iron  at,  170 

Satsuma,  48 

"School  Question,"  205 

Secrets  of  National  Power,  189 

Seiyukai,  95 

Semenov,  32 

Senate,  American,  33 

Senate    Foreign    Relations    Com- 
mittee, 77 

Seoul  Press,  142 

Seventh  Division,  24 

Severance  Hospital,  138 

Shahokou  railway  shops,  126 

Shanghai,  191 

Shantung,  4,  26,  54,  81,  167,  169, 
175,  190,  269 


Shantung,  coal  mines  of,  68 
German  priority  rights  in,  69 

demanded  by  Japan,  77 
German    railroad    and    mining 

concessions  in,  67 
Peace  Treaty  on,  176,  177 
population  of,  55 
resources  of,  55 
solution  of  problem  of,  190 
statements  concerning  return  of, 

192,  193 

students'  ideas  on,  118 

treaty  on,  62  sq. 

vacillation  concerning,  73 
Shibusawa,  Baron,  in 
Shimonoseki,  Treaty  of,  48,  52 
Shinto,  238,  244,  255,  262 
Shocks,  three,  47 
Shogun,  the,  45,  49,  79 
Siam,  56 

Siberia,  8,  12,  13,  22,  24,  25,  26, 
29,  33.  56,  96,  212 

confusion  in,  32 

Japanese  intervention  in,  21 

policies  regarding,  28,  30,  45 
separate,  32 
united,  33 

Siberian  expedition,  21 
cost  of,  44 

problem,  33 
Smugglers,  13-19 
Social  conditions,  226  sq.,  245 
Socialists,  96 

Soldiers,  Japanese,  in  China,  185 
Soldiers  Relief  Society,  31 
Soldiers,  return  of  the  34,000,  32 
South  Africa,  221 
South  America,  46 
South   Manchurian   Railroad,  82, 
87,  124  sq.,  161,  188 


INDEX 


283 


South  Manchurian  Railroad,  com- 
pared with  Russian  rail- 
ways, 124,  125 

freight  rates  of,  132 

hotels  of,  126 

lease  of,  133 

mileage  of,  124 

schools  of,  126 

uplift  work  of,  129 
Soviet  forces,  32 

government,  35,  36 
Spain,  47,  56 
Spaniard,  46 
Spanish  possessions,  46 
Spargo,  John,  34,  44,  193 

on  Russia,  171 
Speer,  Robert  E.,  238 
Steamship  companies,  224 
Stephens,  Governor  of  California, 

209 

Stevens,  John  F.,  247 
Straight,  Willard  D.,  134 
Strikes,  no 
Students'    ideas    on    Korea    and 

Shantung,  118 
Styer,  Colonel,  27,  28 
Suffrage,  male,  96 

universal,  119 
Sumitomo,  228 
Sunday  school,  239,  260 
Sungari  River,  135 
Suzuki  Bunji,  106,  107,  no 
Suzuki  &  Co.,  105 
Syria,  192 

T'ai  Wen  Kun,  49,  50,  141 
Takagi,  Mr.  M.,  160 
Takeyanagi,  General,  95 
Tanaka,  Major,  26,  27 

detachment  of  soldiers  under,  26 


Tayeh  iron  mines,  175 
Temperance,  248 
Tendo  Sect,  152 
Tendokyo,  50 
Terauchi  Cabinet,  94 
Territorial  integrity  of  China,  59 
Third  Division,  24 
Thirty-First  Regiment,  22 
Three  armies  in  Siberia,  95 
Tientsin,  50,  56,  123,  191,  270 

Treaty  of,  50,  51 
Tobita,  256 
Togo,  Admiral,  60 
Tokugawa  shogunate,  47 
Tokyo,  8,  24,  33,  53,  229 
"Tong-haks,"  50 
Tongking,  55,  56 
Trans-Baikal,  23 

famine  relief  of,  14 
Trans-Caspian  Territory,  37,  41 
Trans-Siberian  Railroad,  23,  247 

improvement  of,  29 
Treat,  Prof.,  205,  207,  210,  212 
Troops,  Chinese,  in  Korea,  51 

in  Siberia,  43 

Japanese,  in  Korea,  51 
Tsaochoufu,  62 
Tsao  Ju  Lin,  179 
Tsinanfu,  67,  8 1 
Tsingtau,  55,  73,  76,  183 
Tsitsichar,  134 
Tsuda,  Miss,  254 
Tsushima,  121,  235 

battle  of,  60 
Tuberculosis,  227 
Turtle  Bay,  200 
Twelfth  Division,  22,  24 
Twenty-one  Demands,  4,  25,  57, 
74,  76,  78,  167,  172,  201 

printed  in  full,  80  sq. 


284 


INDEX 


Twenty-Seventh  Regiment,  22 
Two  Hundred   and  Three  Meter 

Hill,  121 
Two  Streams,  the,  78 

Uchida,   Viscount,   on    Shantung, 

178,  179 

Uemura,  Masahira,  254,  258 
United  States,  56,  168 

Note  to  Japan  and  China,  74 
Universal  suffrage,  119 
Urals,  21 
Ussuri,  28 

Vladivostok,  3,  7,  10,  22,  23,  24, 

57,  78,  141,  246 
Vodka,  13 

War  Minister,  9 

Washington,  33 

Wei  Hai  Wei,  55,  191 

Welch,  Bishop,   162,  164 

Welfare    undertakings,    following 

rice  riots,  105 
Weng  T'ung-Ho,  70 
West,  secrets  of  the,  49 
Whaling  industry,  47 
White  patriotism,  168 
Williams,  Dr.  S.  Wells,  48 
Wilson,   President  Woodrow,   21, 

32,   38,   43,   94,    106,    149, 

I5O,  I9O,  199,  212 

on  secret  agreements,  77 
on  Shantung,  177,  178,  218,  239, 
247 

Winn,  Dr.  T.  C,  129 

Witte,  Count,  61 

Wo  Jen,  52 

Woman  Question,  230 


Woon  Hong  Lyuh,  137 
World  Almanac,  56,  222 
World  expansion,  239 
World  Outlook,  The,  137 
Wuchang,  175 
Wu  Lien  Teh,  Dr.,  183,  184 

Xavier,  Francis,  46 

Yalu  River,  58 

Yamada,  229 

Yamagata,  Prince,  97,  116,  211 

Civil  Governor,  156 
Yamamuro,  Gunpei,  Colonel,  257 
Yamato,  187,  199 
Yangtse  Valley,  55,  174,  242 
Yedo  Bay,  4 
"Yellow  Peril,"  189 
Yokohama,  47,  48 

missionary  from,  3 
Yomiuri,  199,  231 
Yorozu,  1 88,  237 
Yoshino,  Prof.  Sakuzo,  268 

address  of,  102 

interview  with,  103 

on  Japan's  dual  government,  1 14 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, 10,  1 20,  246,  249,  252, 
255,  257,  259,  261,  268 

club  car  of,  24 

Young  Men's  Reconstruction  So- 
ciety, 97 

Yuaikai,  106,  107 
Yuan  Shih-K'ai,  50,  51,  76,  135 

in  Seoul,  140 
Yufuka,  26 

Zemstvos,  36,  42 
Zimmerman  Note,  202 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


..  Ill  Illl  Mill  Mill  Hill  IIIIIIHH  Hill  Hill  III! 

A     000673138    4 


